Juli 16 - German cuisine

Looks like I missed the boat on the Pisa deal. We can still go from Friday, the 24th to Wednesday, the 29th, but it is now 5 euro... still a good deal. My adviser is back on the 27th, but I thought we still might as well just go for it. Of course after talking to Skylar, he had a pretty good point: the airport that flies to Venice is in Frankfurt-Hahn which is about 4 hours from here by train, so I was thinking Pisa would be easier, and then take the train from Pisa to Venice. But if the train from Pisa to Venice is about 5 hours and the train from here to Frankfurt-Hahn is 4 hours, how is that easier? He's so smart. So back online I went and found that in mid August there is a deal from Frankfurt-Hahn to Venice for 2 euro. Now there is always something and this time the only problem might be is when Skylar is signed up for camp. I emailed the camp director to confirm the dates because the paper he gave me has two sessions and I think I only signed him up for one. As soon as I find out when he has camp, I'll book the trip to Venice around it. 

This afternoon, we went to meet Juliane for dinner. Juliane is the girl that I met in the student ASTA office who said she would like to practice her English with me and meet up some time. We've gone back and forth with our schedules for a while now and finally were able to make it work tonight. We met at a German restaurant which I thought was a great idea because the only German food I've had is from the Mensa and I am not sure that counts. I tried a beer, but it is becoming more and more apparent that I am just not a beer drinker or any kind of drinker because it all tastes bad to me. Typical beer around here seems to be wheat pilsner and if I am going to drink beer, it has to be nearly black for me to tolerate it. Now, the food was of course mostly meat selections, but they did have a few vegetarian options. Skylar got this mushroom dish with these potato fritter things and I got sauteed vegetables. It wasn't bad, but extremely bland. I am thinking German cuisine is usually flavored with meat... without the meat... well, kind of boring. The portions were also quite small and we were both still hungry. At least we can say we tried it. 

Juliane and I talked about random things for nearly three hours. She worked as an au pair in Chicago for 18 months so her English was perfect. We talked about differences and similarities between the countries. She said people in NY seemed friendlier than people in Germany. I was kind of shocked, but all I can think is that she meant other tourists in NY and not really the natives. There is a certain coldness to strangers in Germany in that no one really nods or greets strangers as they pass like they do in some parts of the US. Nora has mentioned that as well. Maybe people in Germany just mind their own business more than Americans.

When Skylar was finished with his book and was sick of being patient, we paid the bill. I don't think I can get used to asking for the bill and paying the waiter directly; it just makes me uncomfortable. We were still hungry though, so we suggested going to the yummy nearby ice cream place for dessert. We do love the ice cream so :)