German Christmas Markets 2017

I look forward to Christmas every year, and for some reason this year's came up even faster than the previous ones. Must mean that I'm getting old. However because this year, I knew that I'd be in Germany for the before-Christmas-festivities, I was even more excited. I had heard so many people, both German and non- saying how amazing the Christmas markets leading up to Christmas were.

One of the vendor stalls at the Christmas market
in Braunschweig. 

Each city pretty much had their own Christmas market. We live in the state of Thuringen and are in close proximity to two other popular cities. We managed to got to the markets in Jena, Weimar, and Erfurt. Jena and Weimar weren't too impressive, but I especially loved the one in Erfurt.

The markets consisted of 3 major components: Glühwein, fried food, and vendor stalls. Glühwein is red wine mixed with a bunch of spices and is particularly popular around Christmas time. It's grown on me more than I'd like to admit. During December, Ben and I ended up drinking it two or three times a week.

Two of the many Glühwein we drank

Something that I loved was how the Christmas markets brought people together. I assumed that Ben and I would visit the major markets near us on the weekends, but we ended up meeting up separately with friends, colleagues and classmates too. Although the market in Jena wasn't the most impressive, I found it really memorable because of the friends we went with.

Some of the markets had an "old" market vs. a "new" market. The old markets were of course more rustic, had cooler cups, and cost more. I didn't notice too much of a difference between the new and old markets other than some different Glühweins that were offered. I do have to admit that I found new favorites.

Ben also managed to take me to the Christmas market in his hometown in Braunschweig. Another beautiful market! I thought the vendor stalls were more impressive and creative than at any of the other markets that we'd visited. Some sold traditional German-made wooden ornaments and candle holders, and some sold homemade Christmas goodies. We even saw a stall of iron woodworking tools made out of chocolate. :-O

I got really psyched to see a specific nut vendor stand. Ben and his family told me how people stood in line for hours waiting to buy the spiced nuts from this particular stand. Of course, I wanted to check it out.

This was only part of the line, but it went all the way to the back of the market and we saw it on a slow day...I think most people were excited to see the guy making the spiced nuts. He stirred them by hand, so his one arm was very muscular and his other arm was more normal sized. It was amusing to see because the line was always at least 50 meters long.

The Christmas markets were really amazing to see, but I think what I liked best was that it gave everyone an excuse to get together and do something, not just on the weekends, but during the week as well-- in the morning, around noon or later at night. Also, of course the food. I am so addicted to Glühwein and Kräppelchen/Schmalzkuchen.

How can little fried pieces of dough
be so yummy???

I figured I had to post this before the new year. Wishing everyone a wonderful start to the new year surrounded by family and friends. :-D

A German Weekend in the Woods

I really haven't written a post in a while, but I've been meaning to write one about a Choir trip that I took a couple of weeks ago...

One aspect that I enjoy about Germany is that it doesn't seem to matter what age you are, you can find a group or people who share an interest of yours. Actually, it seems like it's highly encouraged to be a part of a group or a "club." I've been missing singing in a choir ever since I left Concordia. There's just something about singing and music that makes everything feel wonderful. It's a drug-like side-effect that's only comparable to that of exercising, in my mind.

Anyway, I joined a choir at the beginning of the fall semester in October. I had already decided that I wanted to join one back in May when I got here, but it wasn't possible because the semester was almost over. I found three options in Jena. I decided to join the choir that sang a mixture of popular and classical music. They were also a smaller group, so I thought it might be less intimidating to speak and make new German friends.

The audition came around and I was nervous, as usual, but Ben had helped me practice some basic questions that they might ask me (Did you sing in a choir before, which part did you sing, do you play any instruments, etc.), so I felt pretty well prepared. It was all fine until they asked me to sing "Bruder Jacob."
Huh? Turns out that's the name of Frere Jacques in German. I unfortunately didn't know that song in German, but the two choir directors and I sang it in a canon~ them two in German and me in French...I wasn't expecting that twist.

It felt so good to sing in a choir, but socializing was a bit more of a challenge. I thought that since I would see the choir members every week, making friends would be easier. However, I noticed that Germans aren't so forthcoming even when you're all doing something that you love together. I really wanted to strike up conversation but I've learned that Germans don't ask "How're you doing?" as a greeting or conversation starter. So all I could manage was:

Me: <smile> "Hallo!"

Acquaintance: <maybe smile> "Hallo."

Me: "..."

Then I was stuck because I didn't know what I should talk about. I can't ask them how they are! Maybe the weather...? Ugh. Such a struggle. It's boring to talk about the weather every week. Usually I was saved because we would start singing and there wouldn't be time to chit-chat with one another.

Therefore, I was both scared and excited when I found out that there was going to be a choir retreat. Making small-but-not-small-talk in German for 72+ hours, hmm...

Let's just say that I had more fun at the choir retreat than I could've imagined. The first evening we had a couple of hours of rehearsal, but then we just played some getting-to-know-you games. I have to admit those were a bit tough because sometimes I'd have to learn double the vocabulary (a.k.a. someone's name and then a fruit/vegetable that began with the same letter~ side note: not many fruit/vegetables begin with J in German).

The second day consisted in majority of singing (surprise!) and I even managed to convince some people to go hiking with me. :-) In essence, it was nice to be "stuck" together as a group and be forced to talk to each other. I learned so much more about other members than I would have through just weekly choir rehearsals.

Also, I haven't mentioned one thing about food yet in this post...I discovered some standard (and very yummy) German junk food. The top one is two cookies sandwiching a little bit of chocolate. I think it's probably similar to Nutella. And the bottom picture is similar to puff corn but with a peanut coating on the outside~kind of genius!

That's all for this post. Big take-away from the weekend: Germans get a lot friendlier and talkative after they've had a beer. Let's not make that a stereotype, but it was definitely an observation.

Culture Shock

It's officially been 3 months now and I'm feeling the lows of culture shock. I knew this would happen eventually. Plus as I counted, I knew that it would be while Ben would be crazy busy studying for State Exams. I'm not unhappy, that's for certain. It's just that the novelty of being in Germany has worn off. I'm a little more concerned about making deep friendships and being able to communicate with locals independently. I've been relying heavily on Ben for helping me book necessary appointments for my residence permit and other, what I would call ordinary, things. It bothered me at the beginning that I had to be so dependent, but now it's really starting to bother me. I guess it never occurred to me how independent I like to be until I couldn't be as independent anymore.

Culture shock isn't really new to me but I suppose every time is slightly different and the low points hit at different times too. I've been feeling a little less motivated to socialize, haven't been sleeping as soundly and definitely not as patient. (Although that may have to do with the not sleeping as well). To be honest, I tried googling to learn more about culture shock. I remember learning about it a bit at Concordia before I went to China, but I thought that maybe I'd find some other ways to deal with it. Well...surprisingly I didn't come across much. As my mother says, there's not a fix for everything.

I know it's important to keep a schedule, exercise, and eat well, etc. I gave myself more time to focus on relaxing activities such as listening to music and yoga. I was really craving listening to The Sound of Music soundtrack for some reason, so that was on repeat for a while. I haven't gone through a Sound of Music music binge for a really long time, so listening to some of my favorites--I Have Confidence and My Favorite Things--got me pretty excited. (and singing along) Also made me think that I maybe I should make a list of my favorite things about Germany.

My Favorite German Things

1. Ben
2. The pretzels
3. The scenery
4. Learning a new language
5. The old fashioned buildings-- being able to describe everything as "quaint"
6. Being able to travel by train and public transport
7. Rübensaft (beet syrup) --brings me to my next favorite...
8. Having PB and Rübensaft on bread/toast/rolls
9. Meeting people from around the world
10. Being able to travel to other cities and countries relatively cheaply and conveniently
    

    

    Those two wires above the toaster--used for toasting
    rolls. How genius was that? ;-)
11. Being able to actually use an umbrella because it's not too windy (Fargo/Moorhead) and also because we have to walk a little bit 
12. Chocolate
13. Toasters with the cool rack on top 
14. Carrying a backpack around everywhere even when you're not in school is completely acceptable.
15. Having a SIM card without a phone contract
16. Getting to laugh about our President with foreigners
17. German windows

    

    Turn the handle to the side and it
    opens sideways. Turn the handle
    up and it tilts with just the top
    open.

Weimar Street Food Festival- A Foodie Heaven

This is the only spot that I could justify putting up as many pictures of food as I'm going to put up. Also, I want to give a short description of each food item that we ate haha. Maybe I should give up writing a normal blog and just start a food blog entitled: Eating my way through Germany.

This was only one section of food trucks

I think that my admiration for food trucks started when I started watching The Great Food Truck Race on the Food Network. It's just so cool to see people who are passionate about food start their own little business. Since then, I've joked about getting my own food truck- not that I'm sure what kind of food I'd actually sell. However, let's just say that that dream died after I got the chance to see what it is like inside an actual food truck. I don't think I'd last long. Or find a business partner who'd be willing to put up with me in that small of quarters...Any takers?

Started off with a home-brewed beer.
Passed Ben's expectations and I
thought it was pretty good too.

I remember going to a food truck festival in Minneapolis last year with some friends. It was quite the event and I loved the atmosphere, music and of course the people I was with. I like that street food is all about really good food and it doesn't waste too much time on aesthetics. Sometimes in restaurants you can get something that looks really amazing and then tastes mediocre, but I feel like street food usually has the opposite effect: looks eh and tastes MMMM.

We didn't try everything, but we definitely looked. :-D I don't think our stomachs or our wallets could have handled trying everything. So here's my picture compilation:

Isn't this name great? Deep fried candy bars, just like back in the U.S.A. :-D

We didn't think that we needed to try this.

Ok, the stuffed churros just looked cool. I wish I could've just come back for day two...

And fancy looking strudel...Nom Nom Nom. I already decided that I needed to work on my strudel-making skills, but I think I'm really going to have to work on them.

We actually got this one.

It's really just a pulled-pork sandwich, but Ben was sold on it from the moment he saw it. I obviously need to introduce him to my Grandma's pulled pork sandwiches. This one was pretty good though. :-)

Before we got the sandwich pictured above, were trying to decide exactly what to get, and when we walked by this place offered us a sample of their pulled pork. SO KÖSTLICH (Yummy). It was hard to say no to ordering something there. So we got the mango something chicken wrap...

Why did we do that? Guess the image of the other pulled-pork place was still running through our heads.

Just look at this paella :-O The presentation was just impressive to me. I actually don't know that much about paella, so maybe this is not that impressive...anyone want to tell me? Or maybe Google.

THIS>>>>>>> To be honest, I don't think it was the most adventurous choice, but these dumplings were just calling to me. (Think I've been going through Asian food withdrawals). The lady selling them made them completely by hand and they were some of the best dumplings I've ever had in my life. I'm not exactly what the sauce was...not sure if it was something that was added to appeal to German eaters or if it was something traditional Tibetan. The reason I wonder is because there was also a potato and cheese dumpling option. :-P

I hope some people just gets a kick out of this. It's from the Swedish food truck: Lettuce, fried onions, pickles, mashed potatoes, and a hot dog (or two if you wanted) all wrapped up in a tortilla. Ben and I weren't sure exactly what to think about it. We did consider trying it but weren't too sure about the combo...

And last but not least, my favorite food truck. Can't say there was a long cue for it, but it was definitely the most unique. Unfortunately, I don't think my stomach could have handled it plus I wasn't willing to spend that much money on bugs. Maybe I'll try it the next time it's at a food truck festival.

Cool experience. Foodie heaven. Note to self to bring more money and a bigger stomach next time. :-D

Got my German Residence Permit!

Well, after a confusing almost three months here trying to figure out how German bureaucracy works, we finally figured it out. The key to figuring it out: find a very nice research-loving German boyfriend. ;-)

So the process started before I got to Germany, of course but I was still pretty confused by the time I arrived. I wish I had studied a lot more German before I came, but how would I have known that I would end up in Germany to study one day. :-D Anyway I had to depend a lot on Ben's patience as he made some phone calls and explained to me some of the official German websites' information.

As I made some new friends, I figured out that most of them are married to Germans and that makes the whole residence permit process a little more straight-forward. However, that didn't help Ben and I much. I do believe that things happen for a reason and that you meet the right people at the right time. For example, I ran into a lady at a University seminar/event that gave me her number and told me to contact her if I ever wanted help or had questions. I barely knew her, but it felt good to know that someone who had gone through a similar process was so willing to help.

So, besides writing this post to update my family, (although I think some of them don't even know about my blog) I thought that it would also be nice to outline the process that I went through to get the residence permit (without being married) so that it might help others going through the process. (If I this would actually pop up on a Google search :-D)

1. When I first arrived, I had to go to the student housing office to be officially put on the lease. To be honest, I can't remember what really happened. Could possibly be because I spoke almost zero German...or maybe because I was jet-lagged. I do however remember the result: we got this sheet of paper which had my and Ben's names on it, our address, signatures and a very official looking stamp on it. This was actually not sufficient enough for the permit. We have to draw up an actual contract.
2. I had to make an appointment at the Bürgerservice (Residency Registration). This is the place that all Germans must go to to register themselves at their current address. The German government likes to keep tabs on everyone's location. (Does that sound creepy?) I suppose it's just like how Americans update their mail address so that their bills get to the right spot. We googled "Bürgerservice Jena" and (Ben) made an appointment (Termin). We arrived early and waited until my name flashed on the monitor screen telling us which station to go to. I brought the officially stamped lease agreement plus my passport and was registered in the computers (probably took 15 minutes). And the lady was very nice. :-)
3. I then had to be enrolled in some sort of German language course. I came in the middle of the University semester so it was too late for me to enroll. If you do enroll in University, you just need to present your acceptance letter. The one important condition for the language course is that it has to have 20, 45 minute lessons per week. So 20 x 45 = 900 minutes per week (15 hours). This is considered full-time. I found out that these can really only be found at a government-certified Sprachschule (IBI, IIK...). For example, my German course is 3.25 hours each day, 5 days a week. Then I have time to practice my German with friends outside of class, do my German homework, work (soon), etc. --Anyway, I went to the office of one of these Sprachschulen and received a bill (you do have to pay a little) and another piece of paper with an official stamp on it. (Are you starting to get an idea of how Germans make things official?)
4. The government also needs proof that you can support yourself whether through your parents, a scholarship, or your own personal finances. They require that you have at least €9.000 in a German bank account to sustain you for one year. You can open an account on an online or a physical bank. Most of them are free. However, you do need to be able to transfer your funds from your home country and exchange the money. This might be better done from your home country.
5. Also, health insurance. This is another requirement. I have learned that Germans love their insurance. They seem to have one for almost every situation. I used to think this was a joke until I actually got into a discussion about it with Ben. Thankfully, the only one that's required for the permit is health insurance. If you're not a University student, you will have to go through a private company, which usually is a bit more expensive. Most Germans go through a public insurance company, unlike in the U.S. I got an intro rate through a private insurance company. I will switch over to a public one once I'm enrolled in University.
6. Passport photos (biometric photos): I spent €12 on ugly photos of myself (pretty sure even the lady that took them agreed that they were ugly). Can't say it's the best thing I could've spent €12 on but it's necessary and really €12 isn't that bad. I heard that you can get them at a photo booth, which is supposed to be the cheaper way, but we couldn't find one so I got mine done at a photo shop. The quality was better anyway.
7. Last but not least, I made an appointment with the Ausländerbehörde (Alien/Foreigner Office) in Jena. This is something that I wish I would've done sooner. The next open appointment slot was 1.5 months away and I could only stay for 3 months on my U.S. travel visa. (Depending on the country, you either have to get a Visa before arriving or you can just enter and then apply for a residence permit.) Thankfully, the moment that you book an appointment, you are already given the status of "currently applying." This means that you won't have any problems, supposedly, if your 3 months are up before you get to your appointment.The site gives you a list of things that you're supposed to bring with you to your appointment.

• Apartment lease contract
• Sprachschule enrollment form OR letter of admittance to a University
• Health Insurance
• Proof of sufficient finances
• Passport photo
• Application form filled out and signed (found on the Ausländerbehörde site)

So we went to our appointment. We had to sign in on an electronic machine and then wait for my name to pop up on the monitor to tell me which room to go to. I was nervous and sweating more than I would've liked. The lady helping us with the process was scary and very intimidating. Good thing Ben was there. He wasn't at all phased. But then after paying and answering some questions, I got my temporary card!

Within the next month I'll have my expensive plastic card with an ugly photo of myself on it to carry around with me for the next two years. YAY!!!

Thank goodness for calm and patient boyfriends. :-)

Geburtstag (Birthday) in Germany

The strawberry looks
like a gummi bear :-D

I turned 23 yesterday and I got to get a little taste of how Germans celebrate birthdays. Back home, I'm used to celebrating birthdays on whichever day is convenient for the family to get together. That could mean we celebrate the weekend before or after the actual date. Sometimes our family even plans the birthday celebration for months before or even after because that's when everyone can be together. In Germany, that doesn't happen. A birthday is not celebrated before or after the birth date. It's considered bad luck to even wish someone a "Happy Birthday" before their birthday.

Ben asked me before my birthday, "So, are we celebrating your birthday the German style or the American style?" We ended up doing kind of a mixture. (Surprising, huh?)

Strawberry lemon cake
My favorite kind of cake. Reminds me of home.
<3
(3 year streak now. Grandma
made my first one, then Mom made it last year
and now I make it.)

I got to Skype my family Sunday night before my birthday and it was so great to be able to see my mom, Shan, (and Flash). It's during family get-together times like birthdays (& graduations) that make me homesick. I also got to eat the yummy birthday cake. No worries, we didn't eat the whole thing ourselves. We're sharing with some friends. But I have to say, that's definitely another benefit of having family around--don't have to go hunting for people to help you eat cake. :-D

He's goofy. Think he was pretty
excited too.

I had German class Monday morning. I just love the people I learn German with~ so much diversity and we're just plain goofy sometimes. On my birthday, we learned how to sing "Happy Birthday" in German. Seems there are two versions of it. It was sweet to listen to everyone sing a bit off-key with their morning voices.

The fun really began after class. Ben surprised me with tickets to see an orchestra concert at the famous Gewandhaus in Leipzig. We had talked about it when we first visited Leipzig, but I kind of forgot about looking into tickets. Can I just say that I was excited? REALLY excited :-D

We took the train in the afternoon. We've discovered that we can get day train tickets for 15 Euros each with which we can ride anywhere within Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It was only an hour train ride. We arrived early and checked out an Asian market in town. Why doesn't Jena have an Asian market that awesome? Then we wandered around to find a place for dinner.

We found an Indian restaurant. I wonder if maybe I should've gone with something more traditional German, but I was really feeling Indian. Plus it reminded me of the good Indian restaurant we often ate at together with my cousins. Such a different dining atmosphere!

And the concert...I can't even express how amazing I thought it was. I don't know much about orchestral instruments and I've always thought that they must be so hard to play. I was so in awe. My mouth was open for most of the 2 hours...Ben confirms that. And I think I may have drooled.

It was a wonderful day. I missed being with family, but that's the only thing that would've made the day any better. :-D

Until my next post!

Exploring Dresden

We had another 3-day holiday. Did I just say holiday? ...I mean break/vacation because today, Monday, is Pentecost. Ben and I decided to take another little trip to the famous city of Dresden.

I've heard many people--Germans and Americans alike--praise the city, saying that it is beautiful and full of wonderful sites to see. I have to say that I agree, although I did find downtown a bit too touristy for my liking.

Someone was already tired
of taking selfies with me.

Dresden is the capital city of the state of Saxony. This is a different state than where Ben and I live, which is Thuringia. So far, I've understood (although my info source is a bit one sided) that Thuringia is famous for its special Rostbratwurst (Bratwurst with caraway seasoning in it) and Saxony is famous for its unique dialect of German (a.k.a. Germans from other states make fun of their accent)

Dresden specifically is known for its culture and history. The city-center was bombed during WWII and since then, the city has been re-building itself. It was interesting to see the mixture of old and new architecture. Most of it has much significance and symbolizes how Germany acknowledges its past but looks to a better future. For instance, this church was rebuilt using part of its ruins. It was actually re-built quite recently; it took 11 years to build and opened to the public in 2005.

Ben and I weren't sure exactly sure about everything we wanted to see. We had done some research before going, but the city was a lot bigger than Jena and I'm not much help when it comes to directions. We had some  unexpected adventures (which I think might actually be the best kinds of adventures).

Opera House

First of all, what's with the weather lately? The Saturday we were in Dresden was mid-80 degree weather and the Sunday was low-60 degree weather with rain. It made packing a bit complicated.

Zwinger: where Augustus II held big parties

So on the first day, Ben and I eventually found the tourist information center and decided to sign up for a walking tour (in English. My German's not that good yet :-/). It turned out to be some of the best €12 I've ever spent. Our tour guide had lived and worked abroad. I'm not exactly sure where, but her English was very good. And she made a lot of Trump and America jokes...it's ok. I've gotten used to it by now.

Largest Porcelain Mural in the World
Depicts the rulers of Saxony.

We learned lots about Dresden history. Fun fact: Augustus II, also known as Augustus the Strong, secretly converted to Catholicism during the time of the reformation so that he could be King of Poland--being Catholic was a criteria of being King in Poland, besides having lots of money. (He was only the ruler of Saxony and was not a king, so becoming King of Poland fixed his king-fetish) Boys will be boys...

I couldn't help it. I made Ben go back
with me so that we could take this picture.
:-D

After the tour, we wanted to climb up somewhere so that we could have a view of the city. We heard that there was an observation tower at one of the churches and it only charged a couple of Euros. Instead, we accidentally attended a church service/boys choir concert. It was actually really impressive and the pipe organ was amazing. :-O

The second day, we took a boat tour down the Elbe. We saw many castles and learned more about different architecture. Unfortunately, it rained--big time--while we were on the boat. We were really chugging along on the way back. We got back 20 minutes before we were scheduled to.

We decided to head home early since it was raining, but we can't wait to bring my mother here!

The home of Augustus II

View of Dresden Old Town from the water

German Food Etiquette

I can’t say that I have the best table manners, but I don’t think that I’m awful to eat with. (Unless you ask my brother) I try not to talk with my mouth full or chomp too loudly. There’s the occasional burp, but I don’t make it loud or obnoxious. Well all of that seems like it’s not enough here in Germany.

Earlier when Ben and I started dating, I learned that burping of any kind is not acceptable—not even a small barely audible burp. When Ben first mentioned it, my first response was, “I don’t burp that much!” But as I started paying more attention, I noticed that, in fact, I did burp quite a bit. (Not a lot by American standards) I don’t mean the loud obnoxious kind, but the slightly bubbly kind. It didn’t matter because Ben could hear it. Not surprisingly, I became extra self-conscious about my burping habits. I worried that when I visited his parents and his grandma, I would accidentally burp and it would be the deal breaker. Ahhh, what to do? What to do?? :-O

Well, I’ve managed to keep the burping to a minimum, at least as far as I can tell. No one has mentioned it to me yet... But I’m still a little confused about the social customs surrounding food. Ben and I went to a Scottish dancing event at the university last week. It was definitely a contrast to school events in the States. 

Aren't their kilts great? The one professor
also played bagpipes.

First of all, there was beer and wine being served. It was completely natural. Most of the students were standing around socializing with a beer or plastic cup of wine in their hands. There were also cups of snack pretzels. --Side note: I have a very low alcohol tolerance. Very. Very. Low. But I thought that I could handle a small cup of wine since everyone else was doing the same.-- It didn’t take very long for me to feel the effects. I saw the pretzels and

asked if I could have them. The lady said that they were free. I wasn’t sure if I was just supposed to take a couple or just grab the little plastic cup they were in, so I took the whole cup…I felt better, but I noticed that some people were kind of giving me weird looks. Guess it’s not acceptable to eat the free pretzels, at least not a cup of them if you’re not completely wasted. I’m thinking that drinking a small cup of wine at a school function, did not fall under that category.

I learned from the pretzel incident and when I went out with some girls one night, although there was a cup of pretzels in the middle of the table, I did not embarrass myself. :-) Nibbling is the name of the game. :-P

Overall, I’ve just noticed more formality when it comes to etiquette. Ben and I were invited to have brunch at his friend’s house, and I noticed that it was still kind of formal even though Ben and his friend were close. Back in the States, if I invited close friends over to eat, I would want them to grab anything they wanted (if they actually wanted to the food I had) and it’d be pretty relaxed. The conversation was easy flowing but I got the sense that I was supposed to nibble more than eat. It seemed that the “brunch” was more for the purpose of socializing, not for both eating and socializing. All in all, even though we were all young and (at least Ben) knew them well, it a lot more formal than I was expecting for Sunday morning brunch.

So, I've learned a couple of things: any kind of burping is rude, the pretzels at a gathering are not to be eaten except in the case of an emergency (alcohol related), and eat a snack (or meal) before going on any sort of group-social outing. The foodie inside of me is a tad sad. I really like being able to enjoy food when I'm with different people. The German culture I've experienced so far is the opposite of a lot of Asian cultures (at least Chinese culture) in the sense that social gatherings are not so much centered around food. It's hard for me not to get excited and zealous about food, but I will try to keep it from being too obvious.

Foodie Pic: