America- Week at Lidl

One of the three grocery stores we have within walking distance is Lidl, a discount supermarket chain. You'll always find the basics, but if you're looking for something a little out of the ordinary, such as Mexican ingredients, a certain spice, or better-quality diapers, you need to go elsewhere. Along with food, they'll have other household items or clothing, but it changes every week and you never know what you'll find. One week there are men's dress shoes, electric mixers and Barbie DVDs, the next there is scuba gear, vacuum cleaners and paint sets.

This week is Amerika-Woche. I couldn't wait to see what foods they would have for America-Week. Would there be items I haven't been able to find, like Fresca, Raisin Nut Bran, Cream of Chicken soup for casserole/crockpot recipes, decent salsa and Taste of Lime tortilla chips, or at least a close equivalent?

In the end, I was not displeased by the selection. Everything was from the red, white and blue Lidl "American" brand -- McEnnedy. There were things I have never seen at this store, such as microwave popcorn, marshmallows, cranberry juice, chocolate chip cookies and bagels. There were pasta and cheese packets, which I think were supposed to be like mac-n-cheese, but were not particularly tasty. We fared better with the red beans and rice packets. There were American-style hotdogs in a jar, apple and raisin cookies and beef chili potato chips, among other things.

If only they would have Campbell's Soup, Kraft, Chik-Fil-A and Frito-Lay week!

A Quick Trip Home

Rebecca and I just returned home from a whirlwind visit to the States. We left Friday afternoon and arrived back in Germany today. One nice thing about working for an airline is the free (or almost free) flights and often being able to fly in business class. Yes, the food is better in business and you get your own personal movie screen and can watch the film of your choice, but there's nothing like being able to stretch out when it's time to get some sleep.

Bex and I stayed in Marblehead, MA with my mom and dad and brother and his family. The jet lag took a toll on me the whole time and letting everyone else take care of us and do all the cooking was such a treat.

In Marblehead (above) we visited with my Aunt Mary Margaret and Aunt Anne. Then in Beverly (below) we had a very nice visit with Aunts Jane, Maureen, Nobby and Uncles Teddy, Bernie and Robbie. And that was far from all my aunts and uncles.

And, I got to go shopping! James needs to build an Aztec house for social studies class and with no stores like Michael's or even a decent craft section in Wal-Mart-type stores in Germany, I didn't know where we were going to find the necessary materials. I found everything I needed in a craft store here and then I even got to step foot into a Target! You have no idea what that meant to me. In one stop, I stocked up on clothes for the kids, contact lens solution for Dave, toothpaste, barrettes, snacks, shoes...it was absolutely wonderful.

We're already looking forward to our next visit back to Marblehead at Christmastime.

Driving Test

All the tears and tantrums have paid off. I am the proud owner of a German driver's license. And the good thing is, once you have your license, you never need to be re-tested unless you accumulate too many driving points. Most people here have a picture of their 18 year-old selves on their license and will have that same photo and license for the rest of their lives.

Two weeks ago, I took the written test. I did have a major panic attack that morning as I was quickly reviewing mathematical formulas and realized that I didn't have everything down pat. It didn't help that the test was much shorter than I expected - only 30 questions. That meant I didn't have the luxury of getting several questions wrong. I did have to guess a few times, but the gods were smiling on me as I usually guessed correctly.

This morning I took the 45-minute road test. There were a few moments of panic: one when the floor mat worked it's way on top of the brake and accelerator and I couldn't figure out why the pedals felt funny, but I casually fixed that at a stop light. The other was when I bumped the curb while parallel parking and having my instructor do a loud gasp at that moment didn't help. The fellow administering the test couldn't have cared less and said, "Good enough." In the end, the only criticism that I received was that I sometimes don't drive fast enough. I was told, as my instructor has told me in the past, that I should drive as close to the speed limit as possible. That's what all the other drivers are expecting of each other. Otherwise, there could be a problem. The one thing I was not asked to do during the test was to back up into a parking spot -- not parallel park, but do a direct backing in to a spot. I know it's easier for pulling back out, but I'm still not comfortable with that way of parking.

A tremendous weight, an eight-month long one, has been lifted off my shoulders. Some evening, David and I will celebrate at a Mexican restaurant I spied during one of my driving lessons. I deserve a nice, tall margarita.

We also recently bought a car. We bought a Toyota Corolla Verso which is smaller than a minivan, but still has 7 seats. I don't think you can find this car in the U.S., so it's doubtful we would bring it back with us. Repairs would cost a fortune. Yes, it's an automatic and we have named it Fresca for its muted silver color and one of our favorite beverages, which you cannot find here. Bye, bye to our rented subcompact clown cars. The neighbors must have gotten a kick out of seeing us pour out of that tiny Ford Fiesta everyday. The lowest point was when we had a week with a two-door car. Getting Rebecca in and out of the middle of the back seat was a major chore.

We like the extra room, the navigation system, the ipod connection, leather seats, and the back-up sensor that beeps to let you know if a small child is behind you or if you're about to hit another car while parallel parking. That last bit should definitely come in handy in Europe, where parking can be a tight squeeze.

Learning to Drive Stick

I finally began taking driving lessons in January, with the assurance by my instructor that it should only take a few weeks of daily lessons and then I should be prepared to take both the written and road tests. It looks like David has lucked out and should get an exemption from both tests. Along with learning the rules of the road, I would need to learn to drive stick.

As with other things about living in Germany, at first glance, things seem very similar. They have stoplights like ours, you'd recognize stop, yield and figure out the speed limit signs. But once you scratch below the surface, you'd realize that most things are different. For instance, would you know the meanings of these common traffic signs the first time you saw them?




The yellow diamond means you are on a priority road (you get right of way) and the road curves to the left. You must use your indicator if you're following the priority road.








End of speed restrictions. Be prepared for people to put the pedal to the metal.









Give precedence to oncoming traffic










No stopping (no parking either)







My very first driving lessons consisted of me wanting to hit my instructor upside the head. Learning stick came first and instead of taking me to a parking lot or quiet street, he took me to a commercial area loaded with traffic, parked cars lining both sides of the street, where 2 cars had trouble passing each other. I was very uncomfortable to say the least, but figured millions of people all over the world drive stick. Surely I can learn, too.

But we were only doing 1 lesson a week, not enough to become truly comfortable. Constantly running through my mind was the thought that if I didn't shift properly, I could be putting my 4 children in harm's way. By lesson 4, I was still not feeling very confident and I found myself constantly glancing down at the gear shift every time I needed to shift to be sure I put it into the right gear. And don't even get me started on down shifting. There were so many rules about when you down shift and into which gear, I just couldn't keep it straight. Then, during lesson 4, my instructor threw me a curve.

One huge difference in Germany, actually through most of Europe and possibly other places in the world, is the right-before-left priority rule. That means that unless otherwise indicated, a person coming from the right has priority. You can be driving down the main road in a town and someone coming from a side street to your right has priority. They won't even slow down to see if you will stop for them. They will just dart out in front of you and you had better stop. A few months ago this happened to us in the IKEA parking lot (I didn't know about right-before-left then) where we were driving down the main lane and some idiot darted out right in front of us. Didn't even hesitate. What a jerk!! Turns out, of course, that he had right of way.

So, learning to look for drivers and bike riders coming from the right was one thing. Thank goodness the right-before-left rule usually applies in areas with low speed limits. My instructor, however, wanted me to learn to be the person coming from the right, who barely glances over her shoulder before darting out in front of a car approaching from the left, assuming that other driver will stop. Oh, and all the while doing the necessary shifting. It did not go well. I could not get my American head wrapped around the idea of pulling out in front of someone who hasn't even begun to slow down and then I'd forget to shift and, well, it was just a mess. My instructor insisting, "Go! Go! Don't stop! Why did you stop?!" wasn't helping. Halfway through the lesson, I was in tears and knew that if I was going to get my driver's license soon, it was going to have to be on an automatic.

In Germany, if you take your driver's test on a stick, you can then drive either stick or automatic cars. If you take the test in an automatic car, you are only allowed to drive automatics. The big problem was that I would not be able to drive our minivan. I have been driving tiny subcompact automatic rental cars since our arrival. David would need to drive the big, not-particularly impressive minivan and I would need to get a new automatic. But David understood and even my driving instructor encouraged the switch to automatic. He could tell how uncomfortable I was and he admitted that I made him nervous.

Time was ticking away. I needed to get my license soon (you only have 6 months to get one) and my instructor was having a hard time getting a hold of an automatic car. Two weeks later, he suggested I switch to a different driving school that always had an automatic on hand and so I was dumped by my first instructor.

My new instructor was very excited to teach a student in English for the first time and was very patient with me. Just being in an automatic made such a difference. With 2 or 3 lessons a week, I am now close to taking the driving tests.

So, the excessive length of this post was to try to justify myself on not learning stick to all those nice people who said, "Stick is easy! You won't have a problem!" Thanks for the encouragement, but it just didn't work out.

What's up, James?

Here we are again, in the Nylund household to do another interview for Lebkuchen with one of the Nylund children, James this time, to discuss life in a foreign country and what goes on in the mind of a 9-year old boy. The once-very blond, now rather brown-haired boy, bounds into the room for our talk, eager to share his views of life here and his hopes for the future.
L: So, James, what did you have for breakfast this morning?
J: I didn't have breakfast.
L: Well, what do you usually have for breakfast?
J: Uh, cereal. Mini Zimtos (a cinnamon cereal) or Sweet Flakes (like Frosted Flakes).
L: If you could have anything in the world for breakfast tomorrow, what would it be?
J: (Thinking hard) I would have chocolate chip pancakes.
L: Does your mom make Hungry Jack Buttermilk Pancakes with chocolate chips, like she did in the U.S.?
J: Of course not. We're not in the U.S! She cuts up little pieces of chocolate and makes the pancakes from scratch.
L: How does it feel to be in the final term of the school year?
J: I feel relieved.
L: A few months ago, you moved from the third grade up to the fourth grade. Was the adjustment difficult?
J: Of course. It was hard to leave Mr. Reece's class.
L: Tell me a funny story about something that happened at school.
J: During the winter, I stuck my tongue to a metal pole and it got stuck.
L: I hear you take lots and lots of tests at your school. Have you gotten used to that?
J: Of course I've gotten used to it! I've done it so much.
L: Do you know you're a bit of a smart aleck?
J: Yes (laughs sheepishly).
L: The cafeteria at school serves a great variety of lunches: kids favorites like chicken nuggets and French fries, traditional German dishes such as pork cutlets and frankfurters, and international dishes like kebabs, gyros, springrolls and paella. What is your favorite lunch from the cafeteria?
J: Chicken nuggets and french fries. But I never buy anything anymore. I bring lunch.
L: What's typically in your lunchbox?
J: A peanut butter sandwich, a snack, like pretzels, Capri-Sonne, fruit that I never even eat and cookies.
L: What do you really like about your school?
J: Two breaks during the day, we can play before and after school, no silent lunch, we can go outside for recess after lunch when we get done eating and don't need to be dismissed.
L: How has soccer been going?
J: It's been going the same as usual.
L: Which is how?
J: Usually running 3 tiring laps, doing some exercises and playing some matches.
L: Do you think the kids here are more competitive than American kids?
J: Yeah, I do.
L: What other afterschool activities have you been doing?
J: Kung Fu.
L: How's that going?
J: Fine. I'm on the yellow belt.
L: Your hair has gotten long. Is that the style here?
J: No.
L: What do your parents think of it?
J: My dad hates it now that it's gotten really long.
L: How are German kids very different from American kids?
J: They speak German.
L: You're such a little.......... What TV shows do you like watching in German?
J: Spongebob Schwammkopf.
L: Can you understand everything they're saying?
J: No. I don't speak German
L: Now, that's not entirely true. Don't you understand some of what they're saying?
J: Yes.
L: Your family is able to watch some American shows via the internet. What are some that you enjoy?
J: Survivor.
L: What do you miss about the U.S. the most?
J: My friends and buying video games.
L: Ah, yes. Your video game systems are from the U.S. and won't play games from Germany. You have to have games brought over the ocean to you. What are your favorite games you have gotten since we've been here?
J: SuperMario Galaxy and SuperSmash Bros Brawl.
L: What interesting things have you learned about Germany that you didn't know before you moved here?
J: They play soccer much more than in the U.S.
L: You also have many Korean friends. What have you learned about Korea?
J: North Korea stinks.
L: What is the best place you have visited so far in Europe?
J: Disneyland Paris.
L: What place would you like to visit?
J: No idea.
L: You recently said that sometimes you're glad you moved to Germany, but sometimes you're not. Why is that?
J: Sometimes I'm glad because the school is awesome, but sometimes I'm not because I can't use video games from here.

English-language German driver's text

I've been studying the driver's textbook for a while now and thought I would amuse you by posting some of my favorite parts of the text. In some cases, I have highlighted the parts I found particularly interesting, from an American perspective:

Physical fitness is essential for safe driving. The preconditions are plenty of rest, sitting in a relaxed position, an adequately ventilated vehicle and comfortable clothes.

Driving a car is something that demands your full concentration! So be careful: no emotional discussions in the car, whimpering children in the back seat, allowing yourself to be distracted by a telephone conversation when you are driving...etc. (only hands-free mobile phones are allowed while driving).

The ideal driver should be calm, drive in a spirit of partnership, drive defensively and with consideration for the environment.

It is therefore causing avoidable nuisance which constitutes an offence, e.g. blowing your horn without good reason, loudly slamming car doors, driving around unnecessarily, keeping the engine running if you are stationary for a long period of time...etc.

The principle of trust does not apply vis-à-vis persons who are "weak in traffic". This includes children, people who are obviously suffering from an illness, the disabled and older people. You always have to be prepared for such people making mistakes.

When you are waiting at level crossings (railroad crossings) you must switch off your engine...and switch on your lights in such a way that no one is dazzled.

A recommended speed of 130km/h (about 81 mph) applies to cars and other motor vehicles on autobahns and divided roadways outside built-up areas.

Children live in their own little worlds. They play, act spontaneously and forget all safety measures if they are up to something. Once they have started to move, they find it difficult to stop.

In road traffic there can be problems if elderly pedestrians want to cross the road. They are no longer able to judge gaps so well, may remain standing in the middle of the carriageway and often abruptly turn around and go back.

Young people have always been characterised by greater willingness to take risk, exuberance and light-headedness...At the same time your driving licence and your own car is your entrance ticket to the world of adults. You are now an equal member of the group of car drivers, you decide where you want to go and no one can talk you out of decorating the car as you please and going a bit faster. And then you are provoked by that chap in the car beside you, the one who keeps playing with the accelerator at the red lights! However the only thing that is to be able to resist the challenge! [sic]

Cars of today's generation start without you having to give additional acceleration. Avoid warming up or running the engine for a long time when the vehicle is stationary. Always switch it off at traffic lights, the barriers of a level crossings (railroad crossings) and when waiting in a traffic jam. If you are consistent about switching off the engine when driving in town you can save up to 30% fuel!

Practice Driving Test

Notes on answering the questions: Where questions have printed answers, one or more answers may be correct.









So, how did you think you did? I just wanted to give all of you a taste of my driving license ordeal. These questions came from the 60 practice tests that accompanied my English-language driver's text. No little booklet here, like you get in the States at your local DMV. This is a serious textbook and the practice tests really help to absorb the information.

All the gory details about me learning stick and taking driving lessons will be posted in other entries, but in the meantime, here are the answers to your little test:

1. b -- The motorcyclist is following the path of the priority road and you are leaving it.

2. a, b, and c

3. a -- The red triangular sign gives you priority at this intersection only.

4. b

5. b and c -- Yield to the yellow truck as it is following the path of the priority road, but the green car must yield to you as you are turning from the priority road.

6. a and c -- A St. Andrew's Cross is the sign for railroad crossing and a level crossing is the train tracks themselves.

7. a and c -- The motorcyclist has priority as he is coming from the right, you then have priority over the blue car as you are coming from its right.

8. 130 meters -- Stopping distance is Reaction distanceplus Braking distance

Fire and Rain

A few months ago, I read by chance on the internet that James Taylor would be coming to Frankfurt as part of his One Man Band Tour. Once you do a little research, you find there are plenty of familiar voices that come to this region of Germany. Just in the next few months, Céline Dion, Kylie Minogue, Backstreet Boys, Bon Jovi, John Fogerty, Nelly Furtado, Kelly Clarkson and Bruce Springsteen will be here (though Bruce will be just too far away for us to make the trek). But James Taylor was a no-brainer for us.

We did have a moment of panic as we drove to the concert last night when we saw signs reminding everyone that tonight was Skate Night in Frankfurt. Every Tuesday night, from 8:30 to 11:00pm, streets in downtown Frankfurt are blocked off so that thousands of skating enthusiasts can take safely to the streets. They cover a 40 kilometre route through the city, accompanied by police (and ambulances!) and at the end enjoy some Apfelwein (apple wine). Looks like fun, but we were worried we may have trouble getting home. We didn't, but with traffic and parking issues, we'll take the train next time.

The concert was held at the Alte Oper (Old Opera House) which was opened in 1880. The building was badly damaged during WWII, and the Opera House was not officially reopened until 1981.

We expected to hear lots of English being spoken as we entered the hall; there are, after all, thousands of Americans living in the Frankfurt area. We heard only German and compared to the average age of the people around us, felt rather young.

Mr. Taylor took to the stage and greeted the audience, thanking them for coming, saying how great it was to be here....all in very good German. My heart sank a bit. I'm here to see one of my favorite American singers and he's going to speak all in German? He ended his introduction auf Deutsch with, "People say that everyone here in Frankfurt can speak English, so from this point on, I'll speak English." Yea!

He sang many familiar hits (You've Got a Friend, Country Road, Carolina in My Mind) plus less well-known songs and gave little introductions to some of them. Sweet Baby James was written for his nephew who was named for him. He didn't debunk the myth around his most famous hit Fire and Rain. Rumor has it that some friends of James were going to surprise him by bringing his girlfriend, Suzanne, to one of his concerts. According to the story, Suzanne's plane crashed ('sweet dreams and fine machines in pieces on the ground') on the way to the concert and Suzanne dies ('Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you.'). Check out Snopes.com for the real story.

He talked about his first big break, when he was signed with Apple Records after the Beatles heard his demo. He found himself in London in 1968, darting into the recording studio whenever John, Paul, George and Ringo took a break from recording The White Album.

Most songs featured just James on guitar with keyboard/piano accompaniment. For a few songs (My Traveling Star, Shower the People), he added prerecorded background singers who were broadcast on a big screen next to him. He said these were songs that just needed extra voices to do them justice.

"Bigfoot" was a homemade drum machine featured on a few songs.

During the intermission, we went right to the front of the stage. This is the song list he referred to (he held up the list at one point to humorously show us at which point in the show we were). I tried turning the picture around, but it made you feel like you were falling into the computer, like a Harry Potter pensive.

At the same time, an announcement was made that there was to be no photography, in particular no flash photography, during the concert. Ummm, OK, why didn't they make that announcement before the concert? And what's with this "in particular no flash photography?" Does that mean that some non-flash photography is allowed? People had been taking pictures with flash, but pretty much just in between the songs. I was guilty of taking a few with flash, but all these pictures were without one. I obeyed their new restrictions (can't say that everyone else did, though) until near the end of the concert when there was a crowd at the front of the stage and everyone was taking pictures.

At the end of the first intermission and at the end of the concert, Mr. Taylor graciously signed many, many autographs and shook hands with people who approached the stage.

You gotta love a camera with 12x optical zoom.

I just wished I had had the guts to lean over to the woman sitting next to me and say, "If you must insist on humming or singing along with most of the songs, could you at least do it on key?" But I couldn't even bring myself to whisper a low "Shhhhhh...."

Opel Zoo

We had heard good things about the nearby Opel Zoo and since the kids and David still have off this week, we decided to check it out.

There are carrots and boxes of pellet food you can buy to feed many of the animals, like these very hairy camels. A lot of people brought carrots and bread from home, too, to feed to them.

A rather scary-looking meerkat

"If I could talk to the animals....just imagine it...."


Just seconds before the ostrich tried to make off with a piece of James' hand


We all loved the coloring of these ducks.


There was a large petting zoo full of donkeys, sheep and goats.


Along with all the zoo animals were all the family dogs people brought with them. I should not have been shocked by that, but I was. Bringing a dog to the zoo? I guess who's to say that a dog wouldn't enjoy it?

This picture does not do justice to just how big this slide was. It was another case of "You would never see this in the U.S.!"


8 seconds, James.

David giving the kids a spin

The kids all look like they're riding a huge record on these disks

Another strange-looking spinning see-saw thingy. The awesome playground was worth the price of admission.