Shopping and more

Well, the past few days have been pretty relaxed with intense bursts of shopping in between. We had to get a few items for Alex to go to preschool (Kindergarten) and also stock our pantry and get a few fresh things. This is not so much fun when you're 3 and I'm proud of Alex for tagging along without complaining. In fact, he has been amazing this whole time. He just goes with the flow. Not even the time difference has made much of an impact on him.

First off, I decided to get a monthly ticket for the local public transportation. This felt a little like giving in, because our friends do everything on foot or on bikes and I probably could have bought a used bike for the EUR 62 it costs to ride public transport for a month, but I decided I didn't need to be some kind of hero nor did I have to prove anything to anyone, so now I have the ticket and we've been taking the bus and the Strassenbahn (tram) everywhere. Alex still rides for free as he is under 6.

On Wednesday, Sherry took us to her local market in Neuenheim and it was lovely - a little sparse, but of course it's winter and most folks here are still on holiday. Then again, there was way more produce there than at the Greencastle Farmer's market (which we love) on its best day. We got a bunch of stuff, most importantly fresh spinach, one of Alex's favorite things, but also cherry tomatoes, mushrooms etc. I guess my days with bags of triple washed ready to eat spinach are over for now, but alas. We then went on to her local bakery (the sourdough rye bread is my favorite and I even got Alex to eat some of it with honey this morning), her butcher, and then on to a supermarket.

Here are some random observations, however preliminary: milk is cheap, which is good, because Alex consumes epic amounts of it. One liter of organic whole milk is EUR .95. Pork is abundant, chicken less so. There is no chicken stock in boxes (organic or otherwise). Yogurt is awesome and cheap. EUR .39 is a normal price for fantastic whole milk yogurt. In fact, most yogurt is whole milk. If you want lowfat, you have to really look for it. Then there are baked goods and bread... Alex has had a soft pretzel (Laugenbrezel) almost every day. All toilet paper is 3-ply. Nice. People are obsessed with being ecologically sound. Even the cheap chocolate has labels that certifies the cocoa is fair trade. Almost all products are packaged in a way that makes the package recyclable. Almost all beverages have a deposit on it. (In fact, they're obsessed with trash here. Most folks divide their trash into 4 parts: compost, paper, recyclable packaging, and Restmüll, which means left over trash. There are 4 distinctly labeled trash bins behind our building, in addition to glass recycling containers. Impressive.)

Yesterday, we went into the city to get some of the things Alex needs when he starts school on Monday: a pair of rubber boots (Alex chose bright yellow ones) and a Matschhose. This is a typical German thing. All kids have these rubber pants with bibs (they look a little like angler pants) that get pulled on over their regular clothes when they go outside to play, which they apparently do in all weather, including rain. We also got him some Strumpfhosen, which are thick cotton tights. In the US these are only available for girls, but here it is normal to have them as a boy as well - and why not? One of his new pairs is dark blue with monsters on it, another one striped etc. We'll see if he continues to wear them when we get back to the US. We also got a Lion King soccer ball for good measure (and also because it was displayed in such a way that it was impossible for me to say no).

Finally, I have to say that so far folks have been really nice and friendly all around (including the lady at the supermarket today when I told her that we (Alex) had spilled a bottle of liquid laundry detergent in the yogurt aisle). The proverbial German gruffness has not been on display which has made our shopping adventures significantly more pleasant. We're now stocked with most of the basics and some goodies, too, so come on over.