We haven't written in a while due to Jeremy's leadership school. The computer was working overtime for that five weeks. We also didn't get to travel while he was in school. Our biggest adventure during that time was a trip to the Exchange, just to get out of the house.
Anyway. I'm going to talk a little about the German appliances I experience everyday. This is not going to be an exciting post for most of you. I've waited four months to write this one because the first several months I was dealing with anger management issues when it came to the use of my German appliances. Today, that anger is under control, and I feel that I at least understand how to use them. I still may not be good at cooking on the stove, but at least I understand it.
The house we're living in was built in 2000. The landlords knew that most of their renters would be Americans, so they tried to build it with some American accommodations. The appliances are worn out and soon to be replaced, but I'm not too concerned about that right now. The dishwasher is like any other dishwasher in the world--it's loud and takes forever to clean your dishes. Our refrigerator doesn't have a freezer, and if "someone" accidentally hits the temperature knob in the fridge it gets so cold things like milk start to freeze (not naming any names). It's super tiny and is awkward to use. In the picture to the right, the f
ridge is the long cabinet all the way to the left next to the red apron. The first handle on top is the fridge; the bottom handle is storage where we keep our pots and pans stacked like a clown car. We are truly thankful that the military loans out a small American-type refrigerator for our use (so, yes, we have two fridges in the house). The oven is the problem of the kitchen, unless you count the accidental freezing of my milk so I can't drink any in the morning! It's not insulated well. The front of it gets super hot to the touch. This is a problem when it comes to the little one who likes to look at herself in the glass of the oven door. Temperature conversions are difficult for me, so I bought an oven thermometer. It will reach 450 degrees F if you let it preheat for about 30 minutes. Needless to say, I dry our meat out often. The stove top is, I think, made of cast iron. It gets way hot and will scorch stuff in a heartbeat. Boil stuff on 6; cook stuff on 3. That's how we only use the stove. Oh, and I forgot the most important part about the oven. It's so small I can't get some of my cookware in it. A 9x13 is about as long as you can get in there. The width is a bit more, but I can't use a lot of my Pampered Chef cookware in it due to its size. I don't know how in the world Germans cook for a large crowd. No way possible in their own kitchens. No way. Oh, and the sink--SUPER tiny and only has one side.
I'm going to dedicate an entire paragraph to the washer and dryer. German ingenuity is amazing. When we first moved into the house, the previous tenants had, from the military loan closet, an American washer and dryer. They were old and the loan closet told us we could upgrade if we would like, so we did. When the movers came to retrieve the American washer and dryer, the German movers easily talked me into getting German replacements. Ok, why? Well, we save a ton on energy, water, and harshness to our clothing. The washing machine only uses cold water. It has its own heating mechanism within the washer, so we're not using water from our hot water heater (which uses more energy to heat it back up). The dryer is really different. There is no hose to release the air to the outside of the house. The dryer doesn't blow the clothes dry. It sucks the water out of the clothes and heats as it does this. About every two or three loads, depending on what you're drying, you have to dump water that has been collected from the drying process. But the most important thing that absolutely must be done no matter what the weather is like outside, you MUST open the laundry room window when drying your clothes. The humidity creates mold if you don't ventilate; not that I know anything about this first hand. Americans would never go to this system because the loads are small and the process takes longer than a normal washer/dryer. I love them. They are saving us traveling money. When in Germany, be German. I'm now hanging my clothes outside to dry and saving at least two dryer loads each time I do laundry!
This seems too long to talk about appliances. It's good information if you've never lived in Europe and are moving here soon. Anything made by Apple is convertible by a plug adapter. Love it. Don't bring your washer/dryer, microwave, crockpots, toasters, (if you drink a lot of coffee) coffee pots, alarm clocks, TVs (that aren't 120v~220v), DVD players, and if you use it a lot your vacuum cleaner, too. If you don't use your mixers, blenders, small appliances, etc. often, using the converter isn't really going to affect your electricity bill. Using a converter for things that I listed as the don't bring section will kill your bill. The loan closet (FMO) will give you a microwave to use for the entire time you're stationed here. We bought a 220v toaster for cheap, and the rest of the stuff you either do without or buy on the equivalent to craigslist (ramsteinyardsales.com). Oh, and FMO gives you two converters to use while you're here. Converters run you about $200 a piece. We carry those heavy boxes all over this house. Not gonna pay that much for one of those things. Lamps...bring them. You can buy a plug adapter (for $4 at the Exchange) and use German 230v lightbulbs to convert your lamps into European lamps. Pretty cool how that works. I brought all of our small appliances thinking I would just use the converter, but counter space in German kitchens is a high commodity. I need it for other things, so I packed those bad boys up and stuck them in the attic. See ya in four years!
I could go on about the other things related to this subject, but I think you get the point. It's really been an adjustment getting used to German living, and my cooking has suffered greatly for it. But, we're managing and learning. I still love it here and hope we'll be able to stay as long as possible.
~Tara
This has been the hardest castle ruins to research. In Germany the castles have two or three names. For example, the town website calls it Schlossberg, Hohensalzberg Castle, and Hohenburg auf dem Schlossberg (which basically means the castle high on the castle hill). Berg/Burg means castle. Schloss also means castle. Anyway, March 26, 2012, Harper fell asleep in the car. I can't remember exactly, but I don't think she had been napping much so I asked Jeremy to keep driving. So he did, he drove past the house and just kept driving. Somehow we ended up in Homburg. It took us 20 mins to get there. Right before we got into much of Homburg we saw a Schloss sign. We know what they look like now, and we always follow them. Schlossberg Strasse literally drove us through the middle of the Karlsberg Brewery and up to the highest point in Homburg. We decided that we should return the next day when better prepared. So we did.
