Iced Coffee and Yellow Trash

So, the German word for Ice is Eis.And the German word for ice cream is also Eis.The German word for coffee is Kaffee.So, if you order Eis Kaffee, you're not getting Iced Coffee, no matter how much you're missing this novelty drink from the states. You're going to get Ice Cream mixed with coffee - it's like a coffee sundae of sorts. While, it is quite tasty and a fun treat, it's not your daily Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew that you're used to.

This is just one of many adjustments we've had to make on this new adventure living in the Black Forest.While I've enjoyed the tasty adjustment of the Eis Kaffee, I can't bring myself to embrace the whole garbage system just yet. Don't get me wrong, I don't want it to sound like I don't care about our environment and am anti-recycling. It's just an adjustment from what I'm used to.The first house that Lance and I bought in Lamesa, Texas (the house we adored and compare every other house to) was super old and the lot took up about half of the city block. In our back alley, there sat 3 LARGE dumpsters. We could throw away whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted ... and we pretty much did. Again, I'm not saying this mentality of wastefulness is ideal - I'm just saying it's what I knew.So, now I have to learn to love separating my food trash (bio paper bag) from my plastic trash (gelbe or yellow sack) from my paper trash (large blue bin) and so on... It's a fairly demanding task at this point, until it becomes a familiar way of life. And then, you have to pull out your Trash Calendar to see when these different types of trash are picked up. Gelbe trash is picked up only once a month. Bio trash is picked up every other week, and the "rest" trash (I'm not sure why it's called this, but in my mind it's because it's the "rest" of the trash that doesn't fit into one of the other categories) is picked up on the alternate weeks that the bio trash isn't. So, if I miss putting out the trash that holds the rank dirty diapers, I have to wait TWO MORE WEEKS until it's the right day to put it out again!!

And while Lance and I have always lived with fairly modest means, of all the places we've lived, we've actually had very decently sized kitchens. I'm used to some counter space and cabinet space and moving around space. I have none of those things in our tiny German kitchen. I have to get creative when preparing dinner sometimes - chop the veggies at the kitchen table (the one where I have to lean forward to sit at because of the sloped ceiling), drain the pasta over the sink and then put it on top of the microwave while the meat is still cooking on the stove - it's like a circus in there. And not to mention (even though I'm definitely mentioning it), I have to maneuver around 4 different trash cans in this tiny space so I can accommodate this German culture of garbage sorting!I'm also learning to accept the fact that a single shopping list for a single store is a thing of the past for me. There isn't really a one stop shop like Wal-Mart or my beloved Target Super Center (oh how I miss strolling the aisles of my local Target). I'm still learning what stores carry what types of products and how often those products change with the season. Boston needs a pipe cleaner for his science project - I have no idea where to get that and have been unsuccessful thus far at finding the right store. It's pretty much a trial and error process. I'm still trying out all of the many stores and learning as I go.

Another huge adjustment for TeamDockrey is the INCREDIBLE scenery. This is obviously a very welcome adjustment and one that we will likely never get tired of. There are some castle ruins near our house - I told Boston that I want to hike up there at every change of season to see how different it looks. The leaves changing colors in this fall season has been beautiful. Every single time we drive somewhere, my jaw drops as I look out the window. It is ridiculously picturesque and awesome.