Eighteen Pounds

"So, where do you live?"

"Near Waldenbuch. Do you know where the Ritter Sport factory is?"

My eyes went wide and a shot a look at Curtis that was unmistakable. Forget the rest of that conversation. We needed to go there.

It turns out the Ritter Sport factory is not too far from where we are living. An hour-long trip somewhere is close these days, mind you. As we were walking through the town, we started seeing large, colorful squares. A good sign that we were getting close! We found ourselves in front of a modern, square building, complete with colors. 

The Schokoladen features a chocolate exhibition upstairs and a chocolate shop downstairs. We started with the exhibition.

We walked into a dark room with three screens rolling beautiful footage of creamy chocolate. The film described the many steps it takes from harvesting cacao pods, to grinding cocoa powder, and to wrapping chocolate bars.

The perimeter of that room showed examples of some of the equipment from the film.

Sebastian's favorite part of the exhibition, however, was a small model of the Ritter Sport factory. If you press a small button, the factory lights up, shakes, and deposits a small square of chocolate into a sputtering little delivery truck. The truck makes its way around to the front of the factory and drops the chocolate through the prize door. 

Did I mention Sebastian loved this part?

Once Sebastian got used to the idea that colorful square wrapper equals delicious chocolate, he was more interested in the displays around the rest of the exhibition. These displays outlined the history of the Ritter Sport wrapper, advertisements, and success. Boring. Where's the real chocolate?

Here is it! Walk down stairs and you'll find aisles and shelves and rows of every chocolate flavor that Ritter Sport makes. At a discount, at that! We learned, however, that the real gem lies at the back of the store. They have broken and (not as beautiful) bagged sets of chocolate for an even greater discount.

We couldn't help ourselves. And neither could Sebastian, apparently.

Eighteen pounds? Oops. Will that be enough? We may never know.

Things in Germany, Volume IV

Public Transportation
First on our list today is Sebastian's favorite German adventure: public transportation. He especially loves the trains here. We'll sit at the train stop and face the direction the train is supposed to come. And when it comes, we throw a party (a quiet one, but still . . . )! He yells, "Choo-choo!" and bobs his head from side to side. It's like going on an amusement park ride every time we have to run errands. Which makes errands so much for enjoyable.

Flush Buttons
When I was living in Ukraine, we had two buttons on the top of the toilet: a small one and a large one. It should go without saying which one to use when. Well, Germany has similar flush bu—they aren't really buttons . . . but panels? You can stop the flush if you only need to flush a little bit or just let it go if you . . . well, you know. And am I the only one who has flushed the toilet based on pure habit when there was nothing in the toilet to begin with? Well, there goes 10 gallons of water for nothing. (Maybe I was sitting there watching Sebastian take a bath, for example.) I've always thought it would be a great idea to have a stop button on the toilet. And here it is.

Hard Rolling Window Shutters
This. These. I. Love. They are called Rolladen or rolling shutters. You roll them down each night (or nap time) and they block out everything. I have always really hated window blinds. They are easy to break and are a pain to clean. These rolling shutters, on the other hand, are outside the window. I love them for a few reasons. One, they block out the sunlight when Sebastian naps. They help him sleep much better and longer so that he is less cranky. Two, they block out the sunlight in the morning. Sleeping in never felt so good. (This is actually a plus and minus. Sometimes I wake up and have no idea what time it is.) Three, they make me feel safer. Rather than merely locking the door to my patio, these babies cover the entire door. Four, they are also great protection from the weather. I imagine they block out some of the chill that comes with winter wind and storms, but we shall see!

When we buy our first house, I want these. I don't care how much it costs.

Bakeries
If you are out all day (doing whatever you do all day) and happen to get hungry, you'd likely stop by a fast food place. Not necessarily because you love fast food, but because they are everywhere and they are convenient. You see teenagers stop at Jack-in-the-Box for lunch and whole families dine out at Chick-fil-A. Shopping malls present a line of fast options, including hambugers, pizza, Chinese, and cheesesteaks—all of which are greasy (and delicious). Bakeries are the fast food of Germany. Yes, there is McDonald's and KFC (I know, what?). But rather than seeing bags of fries at the train station, everyone is snacking on baked goods: from hearty, pumpkin seed loaves to sweet, flaky hand pastries. And we love it. Especially Sebastian.

Signal Kommt Signal
Have you ever pressed the button to cross the street . . . and waited so long that you wonder if the button even works? I know I've sat at cross walks and pressed the button like six times just to make sure the traffic lights got my message. Well, in Germany, they've figured out a perfect solution to your impatience and impertinance: the "signal kommt" signal. Signal kommt means "signal is coming," but sometimes I read it as, "Don't worry. I heard you. Be patient."

*Bonus* Pedestrians (again)
I know I usually only post five Things in Germany that I Wish Were in the US, but I just have to mention how much I love the pedestrian-friendly attitude around here. I walked past this beautifully lit crosswalk the other night in our small neighborhood. It's hard to tell, but the light is situated directly over the middle of the crosswalk—not positioned off to the side. Maybe I don't normally notice crosswalks, but I don't recall them being so well lit. OK, maybe they are well lit in busy areas, but in the middle of a small neighborhood? And, I might add that cars always stop for you. I know I've waited a while in the past for cars to stop so I could cross the street, but here, where ever you see zebra stripes, pedestrians have the right of way.

Things in Germany, Volume III

Self-priced Produce
Pricing your produce yourself didn't seem like that much of a woo-hoo at first, but then I realized how nice it is to know exactly how much you are going to spend before you get up to the check-out counter. Curtis and I have an almost-unhealthy habit of pinching pennies. And to see exactly what your produce costs either helps us put that juicy tomato back or helps us decide to keep it anyway.

Trash Can Covers
It's really a small thing, but it makes a huge difference in the overall feel of the city. I never see an overflowing trash bag on the side of the road. No rusty dumpsters in the parking lot. The trash here is generally concealed to make the streets and neighborhoods look as orderly as possible. (Curtis told me that paying for trash service is very expensive here, so it's common to lock your trash can so that no one can put extra garbage in your bin. And since Germany has such an elaborate trash sorting system, you don't want to get fined for someone else throwing dirty diapers in your paper recycling.) I just think it's rather nice that people care enough about the way their streets look to build a wall (or a house) for their trash cans!

Bicycles
In addition to being pedestrian friendly, Germany has proven to be extremely bicycle friendly. We supposedly lived in the Bicycle Capitol of America, but even our small town in Germany puts Portland to shame. Even though Portland has bike lanes and bike trails, I don't feel like I saw an abundance of people—ranging from kindergarteners to seniors—riding bicycles. Bicycles seemed more popular as recreation in the States, but in Germany it's a viable mode of transportation. Businessmen will ride a bike in their suits. Grandmothers with pull their grandchildren to the park. Even the mail is delivered on a big, yellow bicycle! Riding a bicycle to the grocery store or to work doesn't mean you are "too poor" to have a real car. Riding a bicycle means that you protect the environment, build your endurance, manage your time, and value your body.

Curtis in particular has been inspired to bike to work when we get back to Portland in January. He's excited to make his lonely commute into a healthy and de-stressing habit.

Small Living Space
I don't think it's bad to want a large house and lots of things. Most people do. But I have always thought that if we were to have a large house, I would have to clean that large house and would actually have to buy those things. It's been refreshing to see that a small home in Germany is not equated with poverty or college life. Rather, a small home is a sign of maintaining order and understanding priorities.

Regulated Quiet Hours
That's right. They close things during nap time. I may not have noticed this if I were to live in Germany at any other time in my life, but there are understood (and posted) quiet hours for parks and services.

Non-business hours, nap time, and Sundays are designated quiet hours. For example, if you call maintenance to come fix your shower, they won't knock on your door between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. There is no vacuuming, no lawn mowing, or other noisy work during the evening or on Sundays. I can see that it would be difficult for some to adjust from most stores being open 24 hours, but for us it was a welcome surprise.

Gemeinde Stuttgart

Never in my life have I had to pack both a lunch and dinner going to church. Nor have I ever run there. (OK, I didn't run all the way. That would have taken, according to Google, four hours.) We started our journey at 10:50 a.m. We walked half an hour to the train station in Böblingen to catch the 11:30 a.m. train to the Hauptbahnhof. The Hauptbahnhof was interesting: We were headed to church in dresses and ties while everyone else was clad in traditional German lederhosen and dirndls. We thought maybe there was a traditional church service. Nope. When we arrived at the Hauptbahnhof, we found out that it was the first weekend of the beer fest in Stuttgart. Hm. We ate our lunches, then hopped on a different train to take us to the church building. 

When we got off, we had to walk another twenty minutes to the church building, but since we were following directions from a picture on my phone that Curtis took of the computer screen, it proved to be more difficult than we thought. We took a few risky turns since we didn't know the names of any streets. Then we saw this beauty.

It was a church spire. Without a cross on it. That was a good sign. And sure enough—we had made it! We were just about fifteen minutes early for one o'clock church. 

Sebastian was more than happy to run around for that entire fifteen minutes in the gym. He deserved it after sitting perfectly still in his stroller for two hours. It's too bad church started when he usually takes his nap. 

After three hours of church, which was completely in German, Sebastian was finally able to shut his eyes. We arrived back home close to seven o'clock.

We really loved our new ward. The Stuttgart Ward is the fourth ward we have been to this year alone! Will it feel like home? We hope so. We loved our North Carolina ward so much . . . It was hard to leave. But we are excited to learn and grow in a new way.

Things in Germany, Volume II

Windows
The first thing on this list deserves to be first. I love the windows in Germany. These windows can be either opened from the top or opened like a door. The do not slide up and down like windows I'm used to.

I love these windows because (1) they are versitile. I can open the window in different ways depending on what I want. When I open the window from the top, . . .

. . . (2) it keeps Sebastian from trying to climb on the windows. It also (3) prevents rain from getting inside the house. I love to hear the rain (and birds and wind and people), and keeping these windows open allows me to feel more apart of my surroundings without a wet window sill. When I open the window like a door, . . .

. . . (4) it allows more fresh air and breeze through the apartment. Opening the windows like this also (5) allows you to clean the other side of the glass without having to step on a ladder. Window screens are also not common, and I love (6) being able to see through the window clearly without the obstruction of a mesh screen.

Keys Like This
Well, that's all I really have to say about this one.

Trash Cans in the Produce Aisle
I thought it might be trashy to take a picture of the inside of this trash can, so just close your eyes and imaging I'm opening it right now. You look inside and see wilted spinach leaves and outer layers of cabbage. What a genius idea! We pay for most produce by the pound, but end up shucking those outer and bruised layers when we get home anyway. With these produce cans, people place only those inedible leaves inside, saving the consumer money and making trash sorting easier.

Playgrounds
In the short week that we've been here, we've already found some awesome playgrounds. A lot of them, too! Play seems to be extremely important to Germans because you can't walk very far down the street or path without seeing some play equipment. Sometimes you see a grand play area like these.

But if there isn't room for a large play area, you might find a small play "thing" all on its own. There is a cute wooden snail that Sebastian can ride just outside the nearest grocery story. We see other little animals or cars near bus stops or benches. We pass a small swing set with just one swing on our way to the other grocery store. A little teeter-totter sits near the lake.

Trust
Playgrounds illustrate another important quality that I believe I see more in Germany: trust. The simple playground equipment and the way parents allow their children to play on it shows trust even in small children. While we were living in Charlotte, parents would follow their children around the playground, unsure of what obstacle their children might encounter or what danger their children might find. Curtis and I like to let Sebastian take risks and figure out the equipment on his own. Obviously, some equipment is designed for much older kids, and we take that into consideration. But in general, we don't mind letting him play on what he wants and how he wants. In the States, I'm sure some parents thought we were too hands-off, but in Germany, most parents are like this. In fact, many children are at the playground (gasp!) without any parents at all. It's common to let children walk to school or play at the playground on their own, something that could get parents investigated or even arrested in the U.S. But trust, it turns out, is a very refreshing thing.