eins, zwei

Today marks the two year anniversary of my life in Deutschland.  Among my many thoughts at reaching this milestone, the most prominent is dismay at my weak German skills.  For so long, I have been stretching out the year/1.5 year measures and been heaped with praise for my limited vocabulary.  But I fear I have officially passed the point where my German can be considered impressive.  Clearly, it’s time to move on to a new life in France.

I am always skeptical when hearing of the latest buzz-worthy items.  Unfortunately, this means I am usually hugely late to the party, and not even in a fashionable manner.  JK Rowling did a reading at my high school once.  Unfortunately, that was about four years before I decided these “magic” books were worth a look.  Sometimes this works out, as it did this week when I managed to score the entire Twilight series for 10EUR in the bargain bin of my local bookstore.

And with hot series, it works out when I am able to go through the entire story in one sitting.  The German and I are finally getting into Lost, and have spent the better part of the day watching half of season 1 with season 2 waiting.  None of this waiting a year, or even a week for our next fix.

So, two years in the land of the krauts.  It’s not bad, but it is certainly still foreign.  The other day I met an Italian who has been living in London for 8 years, married to a Brit with kids, working for a British company, and visits Italy no more than once a year.  He said London still does not feel like home and he has made no true friends.  This is not really an inspirational tale.  More like a warning to prepare an exit strategy.  But rest assured my friends, my B&B will still be open through Oktoberfest 09.

sharing is caring

Those who commute on public transit know that it is a world with rules of it’s own.  Luckily, public transit in Germany is of a higher class than most , but today I realized there is one aspect I miss from the US.  Where I come from, it is acceptable etiquette to leave your newspapers on the chair during the morning commute only, and in a tidy manner.  I completely agree, as nothing can be so terrifying as a 30 minute MUNI trip on the 38 with a dead iPod and no other option for avoiding eye-contact.

Of course, one must recognize that what we call sharing during the morning commute is called trash during the evening ride.  Here, however, the first time I left my neatly folded papers on the SBahn, I was scolded by some old lady.  I don’t mind tossing my trash, but it does break my heart to see people tossing away their unwanted NYT/SZ-English-language papers.  Or even worse, as witnessed this week, a shiny new People magazine.  As if the rest of the train is not interested in the most shocking Bachelor finale to date.  Or even more interested to know how such drivel can still be on TV in a society where MTV does not have a monopoly on all English-language programming.

Business idea of the day, 1: free daily paper.  Is this only an American thing, or are office drones in Berlin, Paris, and London happily whiling away their commute with two-column summaries of world events, equal ink to arts and entertainment, and pages of comics, crosswords, and sudoku?

Business idea of the day, 2: cupcake cafe.  According to the Sunday paper, these are now ‘in’ in Germany.  As they have already finished the entire coolness cycle in the US and been replaced by macarons about 6 months ago, I see great potential to use my superior market understanding to take over the pink-frosted world.

those crazy kids

May is such a good time of year in Germany. So many holidays I don’t even know what they’re about. Just that most of them require some thanks to the Catholic government tools. Although I think this week we have the Socialists to thank.

This weekend was augmented with a Friday off, which gave us lots of time to spend with the German’s friend visiting from Stuttgart. They have two small kids. As anyone who has spent time with kids knows, it’s hard enough communicating with a 3-year-old who speaks the same language as you. When they are speaking German Schwaebisch, it’s game over before you start. I made a valiant effort, but after I realized the kid had been saying “Fanta!” on repeat for the past five minutes, I gave up.

Also, kids think it’s funny to kick people under the table. I think it’s pretty funny to kick them right back while maintaining total dignity above the table, but you always run the risk that they’re going to open their big mouths and announce to the general audience what you’re up to. Sometimes you can pass that off as hyperactive kids making stuff up, but luckily this time it was not necessary.

back in the u.s.a.

A week after returning from the US, I still find myself too tired to do much more than the truly necessary (one load of laundry consisting entirely of jeans and unmentionables, buying just enough food for 3 days, unpacking only the new clothes I want to wear).  But today, hit by a mixture of industriousness and disgust at my own sloth, I am digging deeper.  Well, I was until I managed to actually unpack all my bags.  But looking at the piles of stuff to put away sent me running for the haven of the living room, where one can read cookbooks and watch Der Untergang in peace.  Cakes, muffins, and Hitler?  What more could on want on a sunny Sunday afternoon?

Three weeks of driving around the East Coast aimlessly stopping at any factory outlet and Target in sight has not made me miss work or Germany in the slightest.  However, I do have to admit that for the first time, the German’s insistence that the US is about 30 years behind the rest of the world is starting to strike a chord.  Listening to his shock and disgust when entering the MTA and knowing it is possibly the best public transport system in the country or looking at the monster trucks that everyone outside of Manhattan and Boston are driving.  Discussions of recycling programs and auto regulations that have been in place for decades in Europe.  I had a conversation with this woman who was saying Europeans are still quite jealous of Americans for having the courage to leave the motherland and making such a successful life over here.  I couldn’t decide whether to laugh out loud or to run from this obviously crazy character.

say it with me

I spent much of last week in Barcelona and while my coworkers are rejoicing over the “sunlight” in Munich and lack of snow, I am thinking wistfully of 20+ temperatures and beaches.  Of course, it was embarrassingly easy to locate the other tourists wandering the city – we were the only ones without heavy black wool jackets and long pants.  And sitting outside.

I am an extremely light packer – being small and having small clothing/shoes does help, but I also bring very few things in general.  My bag going to the airport weighed 6 kilos, which was about the same size as most carry on purses.  Or 8-year-old backpacks these days.  However, on the flight back, a mere 5 days later, I had a whopping 14 kilos.  Where did those 8 extra kilos come from?  I have one word for you, my friends: chorizo.  Okay, a few more words: “specialty canned seafood” and “marcona almonds”.  Not to mention an embarrassing large assortment from Cacao Sampaka.  Some of the most delicious chocolate I’ve had and inexpensive enough to make me wonder why one really needs Paris and Michel Cluizel.  But while that may seem like a lot, I was making fideos last night and realized I did not buy NEARLY enough chorizo.  6 kilos of baggage allowance gone to waste.

The German is being badass at work and was invited to join a select leadership program his company has for its top people.  Which is great except for one thing – they call themselves “high potential carriers”.  Can you imagine phoning home and saying “Guess what?  I’m a high potential carrier!  No, not for STDs…”  Of course, he sees nothing wrong with this name.  Clearly there are no Americans in their HR department.  If I was going to apply for a job there, this would be my first example of value-added.

obviously

This week I heard two things that were so German they made me laugh out loud.

1.  During the winter, the city spreads this gravel and little rocks all over the streets to melt the snow and keep people from slipping.  According to a recent news show, at the end of winter they actually collect all these little rocks, wash them, and store them to be reused next year.

2.  I work near the big convention center in Munich, and always see software, travel, and other trade fairs going on.  This week, they are hosting the “free time” trade fair – topics covered include hiking, biking, and more.  Some prepare for the summer with diets and shopping, others with conventions to plan the spending of one’s free time.

But as much as I laugh, I also spend much time reading US news and laughing as well.  Like the continued debates over the banning/charging for plastic bags.  “Seattle residents furious over proposed 5 cent charges!”  People, we pay 20-50 cents for bags here and this encourages us to remember the bring them.  See how that works?  And somehow, we still manage to have an entire kitchen shelf full of plastic bags.  Just because Safeway stops handing them out doesn’t mean everyone else will too.  Those Gap tshirts have to go somewhere.  Plus, to those who complain about the indignity of facing extra charges during a recession – 5 cents?  I have to pay for a bag about once every three months.  If that.  So we’re looking at 2 bucks a year, max, and at the measly 2-5 cent charges suggested in the US, that works about to about 20 cents.  What else does one even buy for 20 cents?

best popular

Reading up on World Nutella Day, I was surprised to hear that it is ranks #3 on Facebooks “most popular” list.  But not nearly as surprising as numbers 6-9, 11, 13, and 15.

1.  Barack Obama.  Obviously

2.  Coca-cola

3.  Nutella

4.  Pizza

5.  Homer J. Simpson.  Homer’s middle initial is J?  Seriously?  Does this stand for something?

6.  Mr. Bean.  Do people really like this guy??

7.  Cristiano Ronaldo.  How does this random soccer player have so many friends on a website started by WASPy Harvard kids?

8.  Chocolaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate.  How do people know the cool group is the one with 17 “a”s and not 15?

9.  Kinder surprise.  The European chocolate products are really cleaning up here.

10. Facebook

11.  Windows Live Messenger.  Who uses this product?  Where’s Twitter?

12.  Michael Phelps.

13.  Sid.  I had to click on the link to realize this is the weird creature from Ice Age.  He has a name?  And 1.97 million friends?

14.  YouTube

15.  Boo.  Ah, the days when you had to be enrolled in select universities to access Facebook…not so much select preschools.

Frankly, this list surprises me almost as much as the fact that Facebook itself has not gone the way of Friendster.  The lesson to take away here is that it really pays to target WASPs instead of Asians.

two more years

Last Friday I successfully renewed my visa for another two years.  After three failed trips, the German convinced me it was time to get serious.  Despite him having Friday off, we got up at 6am, put on suits, tie (him), heels (me), and went down to “show them who’s boss” (his words, not mine).  I don’t know if the clowns at the Torture-Amt were swayed by the clothes or the sudden introduction of fluent angry German into the equation, but we came out a mere 20 minutes later, clutching my passport in my grubby little hands.  Has anyone ever been “helped” there by someone not rude or incompetent?  They certainly seem friendly enough when they’re chatting with each other and going out for coffee and cigarettes instead of working.

In case anyone else out there is thinking of moving to Germany, here’s an overview of the process:

1. Find a job.  You think this is the hard part, what with not speaking German and not having a master’s degree in engineering, but it’s not.

2. Have your company fill out the twenty required pages of paperwork.

3. Bring to the Torture-Amt, only to discover that they need one more piece of paper/don’t approve of your picture/are only open from 10-12am.

4. Grumble about taxes and beamten.  Repeat until Friday (the only day they open at 7).

5. Drop off paperwork, try not to respond to the question “why are you here when your permit still lasts for 3 more months” with “because you’re an incompetent moron” and be repeatedly assured that they will contact you in two weeks.

6. Call repeatedly for a month with no response, only to go in person and find out said paperwork has been “misplaced”.  Think about how if you were in China you could just bribe someone and be done.

7. Repeat steps 2 and 4.  You thought you could cleverly skip step 2 by making photocopies of everything before handing it over, but no dice on photocopied signatures.

8. Be informed by rude/incompetent employee that in fact you only needed one single sheet of paper which you had on day one to renew your permit, even though the same individual sent you away last week with more paperwork.  Try not to punch them in the face as they are actually issuing your permit.

say what?

In the “funny things from Germans” category: two times in the last two months, I have had colleagues mistakenly use the word “turkey” instead of “Turkish”.  I battle with my conscience about whether my personal entertainment is worth the cost of someone walking around telling people that his wife is a turkey.

Just this past weekend, I was at Tommy Hilfiger thinking how much more I like their clothes since moving to Europe and wondering if my tastes have changed.  But then I found it, it’s not me, it’s them.

It has come to my attention that I need to file a US tax return, despite not earning any money in the US this past year.  Actually, I’ve always known this, it’s just come to my attention that I have to do this now.  I roughly translated my Lohnsteuerbescheinigung and sent it off to my CPA (aka, DAD).  Is this sufficient?  I thought the US embassy had tax nights where they held your hand and helped you fill in the highlighted area, but I couldn’t find anything on their website.  Advice?  Although if Obama’s people are any measure to go by, it seems like this is an optional exercise, so maybe my concern is unfounded.

sugar, chocolate, crack

When Hershey bought out Scharffen Berger in 2005, the Bay Area was lulled into submission by promises that nothing would change.  Except that Scharffen Berger chocolate would be made in an Illinois factory and that the original Berkeley home will be shut down this year.  Not that the Bay Area is lacking in quality chocolate, what with Bittersweet, Recchiuti, or some born-in-Santa-Rosa favorites.  But mass-production takes the fun out of things.

Although, despite hardly ever buying candy that isn’t pure dark chocolate or packed with love by Denise from A l’Etoile d’Or or cookies that don’t come freshly baked from a bakery or patisserie, I do have one factory-cookie weakness.  They may not be made with love, or even from real Girl Scouts, but I think they might have crack.  At least the Samoas do.  I thank god¹ every day for Munich’s sizable expat community that puts these in my grubby little paws every year.  Expats in Heidelberg seem to be doing okay as well.  I used to think Girl Scout cookies might be one of those things that don’t actually taste as good as we think they do, it’s just all the nostalgia and memories associated with them.  But the German couldn’t keep his mitts off the Samoas either which leads me to be believe that there are indeed addictive drugs added.  And in case you were worried about salmonella, Tagalongs have been approved for consumption.  But I would encourage you to stay away from my two boxes for your own safety.

¹The other day I was talking about a super-religious colleague in another country who often says things like “god will provide this” or “I trust in god to do this” and my German colleague said she didn’t realize these were religious statements.  Apparently the defunct irony-filter couldn’t tell the difference between my “oh my god” and “thank god” and truly religious sentiments.  Amusing or alarming?

Once you’ve made the call on that amusing v. alarming question, tackle this level two question:

celebrate!

Yesterday was a very special day for America.  A day that transcends barriers of race, age, gender, and sexual orientation.  A day that I celebrated, despite being in Germany, and that I hope others did as well.  Because although National Cheese Lover’s Day is only an American holiday, I see no reason why citizens of the world cannot enjoy it.  Except maybe some of my Asian brethren.  You know who you are.

But I celebrated with the classic tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich – if I had known before 4pm, I could have made arrangements for mac and cheese, but for some reason my work calender only has things like New Year’s Day and Easter.  Even if you missed this auspicious event, you can prepare for 2010 by finding out what kind of cheese you are.  Speaking of my stomach, I also discovered this list of official state foods (well, Wikipedia-official).  I’m torn between disappointment that California, salad bowl of America, has none and a general feeling of superiority that my home state is too busy debating same-sex marriage and universal health care to vote on whether the state pastry should be a strudel or a sopaipilla.  And if you think that’s a laughable debate, clearly you are not from Oklahoma (state vegetable: watermelon.  Yes, you read that right).  Ladies and gentlemen, there are not red states and blue states, black states and white states, queer states and straight states.  There’s Oklahoma and there’s everyone else.

why i oughta…

If there’s anything small Asian women like more than laughing about stuff white people like it would have to be punching people in the face.  And in case you don’t have your own list of candidates, you can find some inspiration on People Who Deserve It.  Since the German population is a little under-represented here (except for Traveler with Giant Backpack on the Subway and Douche Who Wears Sunglasses Inside), I would like to suggest the following categories for fellow expats trolling for victims:

- Baby Picture on iPhone Guy.  You know what the iPhone’s number one use is?  Not surfing the internet, not listening to music, not even sending emails just because they will include the “sent from my iPhone” line (although that’s a close second).  It’s to show off a 70 picture photo collage of your child.  In the olden days, your wallet could only hold so many snapshots.  But now those 16GB are yours to fill.

- KVR Drone.  Government employees bringing us new lows every day.

- Pretentious European Food Snob.  Please note, American pizza is infinitely better and more diverse than German pizza.  And spare me the line about being just like Italy – every pizza place here is run by Turkish immigrants who also sell fried rice, thai curry, hamburgers, and pints of Haagen-Dazs.  And I despair over the lack of farmers markets daily.

- One Warm Meal a Day Guy.  Denying the weekday pleasure of omelets, soups, and roast chicken in the name of “health” and espousing the virtues of brotzeit.  Oh wait, I live with this guy.

- People who say, “but where are you from??”  America.  My parents, too.  I’m yellow, I know, it’s crazy.

only in america

I was raised in a home with a healthy amount of skepticism towards MLK Day.  As the only individual in America to be recognized with his own federal holiday, I think my dad had trouble wrapping his head around the theory that MLK ≥ all US presidents combined.  But that pales in comparison to now – living with someone who had never heard of Rosa Parks (not even via those great disseminators of civil rights history, Andre 3000 and Big Boi) and working for a company with headquarters in the south, where apparently they don’t celebrate the Rev.

This lack of appreciation for civil rights and regret at not being in the US for tomorrow’s inauguration inspire me to bring you something truly and uniquely American:

The Krispy Kreme abortion consipiracy.  And I thought the Rachel Ray Muslim conspiracy theorists were hitting the bottom.  It’s been a hard year for donut chains.  Or, donut chains are poisoning both our bodies and our minds.  Take your pick.

socialism

Last night the German and I watched Sicko.  FYI, for you expats out there, this is not the film to watch if you ever want your European partner to move back to the US with you.  Although, as with any Michael Moore film, it vastly oversimplifies the topic and glamorizes life in Europe.  What’s up with showing that the main expenses of a French couple is mortgage and holidays?  Like 40% taxes does not count as a significant monthly expense?  Granted, French people are even better off than most Europeans, but they still have to pay taxes.  Also, that’s why the French government is so po’ now.

I am fully in support of universal health care, but it’s completely ignorant to pretend that a young and healthy person will not have to pay more for their care than they do now.  That’s kind of how the whole thing works.  But, as the doctor in the film said, the idea is to use what you need and pay within your means.  And belief that we’re all in it together.  After all, Americans have managed to get behind socialization of libraries, police, and education (although many of the privileged seem to be losing interest in this).

For me, the best part of the film was when these French people said the problem with America is that the people are afraid of the government, but in Europe, the government is afraid of the people.  Both absolutely true AND hilarious.  Not so much fear, but lack of accountability, is noticeably missing amongst our “public servants”

good times

How is it that a place cold enough to have White Easters can’t get it together in time to provide us with a White Christmas?  At least it’s not a rainy one either.

Currently spending Christmas with the German’s parents near Stuttgart.  I fully support the practice of opening gifts on the evening of the 24th – none of this waiting overnight nonsense.  Although disappointing that this year we will not be able to make the post-Christmas pilgrimage to Metzingen, home of Hugo Boss, endless outlets, and the largest Chinese population in Germany at any given time.  But traveling to Paris for new years with my favorite cousin should help make up for that. 

Wishing you all a happy holiday!

central planning

I have mentioned before how much I love my bank (in the US – I merely tolerate Deutsche Bank and curse them often for charging annual fees just to maintain my savings account and forcing me to wait for three months before awarding me a check card as I came from a strange, exotic, and untrustworthy land).  But in the US, I belong to the loveliest of credit unions, complete with insanely helpful employees who offer up coffee, lemonade, remember names, and are still emailing and faxing me things in Germany.  Oh, customer service.  How I miss you.

Anyways, as if I needed yet another reason to sing their praises, this year they started a blog.  I have been a part of many conversations around “corporate blogging” and appropriate image and content and I have read my share of awful and boring company blogs.  But this one, I can highly recommend.  Targeting a younger audience (ie: the audience that would actually read blogs) this is entertaining enough to read just for fun.  A healthy balance of practical advice (dealing with finances when moving in with a boyfriend/girlfriend, benefits of a health savings account) and dismissing annoying practical advice (if you’ve paid taxes, rent, bills, and are debt free, go ahead and have a latte!  who cares if $2 per work day = $10 week = $500 year?  You’ve already taken care of the important stuff).

I personally enjoyed his advice on combining finances:

How you spend money as a couple is also tricky. Some couples spend what they each earn. Others do the allowance type thing. Kinda like government…you have communism, dictatorships, democracy, etc. Take your pick.

Our household currently operates under a capitalist system, with clearly defined property rights.  This system was severely tested during the Ironing Revolution, in which one party refused to acknowledge the proven advantage in total output of division of labor.  Negotiations proved unsuccessful, but this  is a rare protectionist policy.  Other than some contributions to public goods and infrastructure (taxed according to income bracket), it is a free market.  Clearly, parents must really love their children to move from this set up into a welfare state.

my favorite things

Yesterday I had dinner with some colleagues from various desert lands (Africa, India, etc).  We had a lovely meal, talked and ate and drank, and left around 11.  At which point, the three of them proceeded to stare in wonderment at the snowfall.  Which is all well and good before you leave the restaurant, or after you arrive at home.  But standing in the middle of Viktualianmarkt going, “look at that church!  no, look at that church!”  “check out this tree!  wait, look at this tree!” for 20 minutes is not my idea of a good time.  I spent a good 18 minutes grumbling to myself about crazy tourists while mentally reviewing any facts I ever knew about frostbite.  But in the end, I had to admit that it was kinda pretty.

When I lived in San Francisco, a friend of mine who lived in the north bay always used to come visit and point out these amazing things in the city that I walked past twice a day without ever registering.  You know, those things you never look at unless both your iPod and your cell phone run out of battery during your daily commute?  They’re kinda nice.

bringing you new lows every day

This morning, there was a man on my train drinking Jack-and-Coke in a can (brought you by Jack Daniels and Coca Cola) at 8.30am.  I had several thoughts on this, mainly:

-  They produce premixed and canned Jack-and-Coke?

- Is this product available in America?  Or is it one of those things like Spezi, that you think could only happen in America, yet only exists in Europe?

The holidays are rapidly approaching, but with crazy amounts of work, lack of qualified workers in my holiday card sweatshop, and shops that only open on Saturday, I sit at home every evening thinking “I’m running out of time!”  While I eat my blueberry crisp and pasta with slow roasted tomatoes.  That preservation of summer produce really pays off.

Part of last weekend’s holiday festivities included a winter concert with a sing-a-long component.  There I was, singing along, minding my own business, when the German interrupts my stirring rendition of “O, Christmas Tree” to say, “It’s BRAHN-ches, not BRAN-ches.”  I am sure few expats must suffer the indignity of having someone correct both your German AND your English.  Few occasions brought more joy than when we met up with my British friend, so they could commiserate over the difficulties of communicating with me.  He’s currently working his way through “Teach Yourself Mandarin”, so I preemptively referred him to this post.

defense wins championships, offense wins wars…

This just in….

AP – After determining the Big-12 championship game participants the BCS computers were put to work on other major contests and today the BCS declared Germany to be the winner of World War II.

“Germany put together an incredible number of victories beginning with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland and continuing on into conference play with defeats of Poland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. Their only losses came against the US and Russia; however considering their entire body of work–including an incredibly tough Strength of Schedule–our computers deemed them worthy of the #1 ranking.”

Questioned about the #4 ranking of the United States the BCS commissioner stated “The US only had two major victories–Japan and Germany. The computer models, unlike humans, aren’t influenced by head-to-head contests–they consider each contest to be only a single, equally-weighted event.”

German Chancellor Adolph Hiter said “Yes, we lost to the US; but we defeated #2 ranked France in only 6 weeks.” Herr Hitler has been criticized for seeking dramatic victories to earn ’style points’ to enhance Germany’s rankings. Hitler protested “Our contest with Poland was in doubt until the final day and the conditions in Norway were incredibly challenging and demanded the application of additional forces.”

The French ranking has also come under scrutiny. The BCS commented “France had a single loss against Germany and following a preseason #1 ranking they only fell to #2.”

Japan was ranked #3 with victories including Manchuria, Borneo and the Philippines.

United States head coach Harry S Truman was criticized by many as having poor taste for scheduling a “politicking” interview during halftime of the German bombing raids over Great Britain.

In that interview, Truman stated, “Any way you look at it, there is going to be a really good military force that gets left out. But when you come right down to it, our head-to-head victory over the Germans has to be the deciding factor.”

A US fan also made the point that “Germany is getting all the style points right now because of their sexy offense, which continues to obliterate weaker opponents and show off their might after the battle is already won. But what about defense?”

In addition to being hilarious, this also reminds me of my latest book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma.  Pollan talks about Fritz Haber as the person with the single greatest effect on our lives today.  Which I found interesting, as I had never heard of Fritz Haber.  In fact, although he was a German chemist and Nobel Prize winner, no one amongst my brief survey of German engineers had any knowledge of him.

His great contribution to mankind was the creation of a process to extract nitrogen, and later synthesize it, leading to the creation of cheap fertilizer and making our current population size what it is.  Pollan estimates the world would only be 60% of it’s current size if Haber had not made his discovery.  That’s like the world population minus China and India.  However, his other great accomplishment was the development of chemical warfare, notably the gases used in concentration camps, and after the war he died in poverty and obscurity.

For you Cal fans, maybe the BCS will one day look into the sad stories of Fritz Haber and Nate Longshore and give them proper credit for their accomplishments.

what would a german do

Weekend brunch used to be my favorite meal, but there is nothing that can compare to a real American breakfast here.  I mean, only buttermilk or blueberry pancakes?  Omelets with spinach, cheese, or mushrooms?  Where is my fennel, Italian sausage, and Fontina omelet?  Where are my lemon ricotta pancakes?  Where is my bottomless coffee?  Despite the challenges, the German and I still take our Sunday paper out for some eggs every now and then.  Of course, my breakfast reading material is limited to the Style, Travel, and Culture sections, plus fashion magazines with more proper nouns than regular.

However, yesterday I discovered the Glamour magazine can still be funny.  In the “Is it okay….” section, where they ask scintillating questions about the appropriateness of big handbags, tights/hose with open-toed shoes, and so forth, they also had a question that read:

Is it okay to leave your meat on your plate when your hostess has forgotten that you are vegetarian?

Reply:

52% – NO

48% – YES

Why does it not surprise me that more than 50% of Germans think being vegetarian is like not liking Camembert and one should just eat it to be polite?  Maybe I should be surprised that it wasn’t higher.