Our flights all went according to schedule, we got out ahead of the hurricane that never really amounted to much and our entire team was here to welcome us when we arrived. All of our baggage also arrived with us which is never something to take for granted!
After a fairly decent night of sleep we were ready to hit the town and explore our area. The first item of business was to get SIM cards for our iPhones. Turned out neither one worked and it was going to be a big pain to fix the problem so we ended up buying 2 Android phones that work great. This one thing took us more than 2 hours to accomplish. I guess the Arabs have nothing on the Germans! Everything was done on foot and before noon, I had 10,000 steps in. The garbage collection here is out of control - 7 different containers for sorting your trash. I heard of this before but couldn't believe it was really true. One for wet trash, one for paper, one for colored glass, one for brown glass, one for clear glass, one for plastic, one for cardboard. Actually, I think there may be a couple other categories. It's unbelievable. The Germans are all about their bicycles, their dogs, their public transportation. There are trains above ground, below ground and trolleys running along the streets, besides buses. Our team mate gave us directions to get to the center where we'll go tomorrow night for a "language cafe". I think we'll leave a couple hours early to make sure we arrive on time. We walk about 15 minutes and then get on one certain train, go 6 stops and get off, walk across to the other tracks and go another 3 stops, then get off and walk another 15 minutes. Google Maps will be our best friend, they tell us. Grocery shopping is a whole other story! Every plastic bottle can be recycled at the store in a large machine. You get money back for each one, a lot of money. No bags anywhere; bring your own or pay a hefty fee for one. Not a word of English on anything so it's a big guessing game for some things. I think I brought home baking powder but I really have no idea. The fridge and dishwasher in my kitchen are miniature size. That's because people here go shopping every day and only buy what they need for that day since no one has a car and it's too heavy to carry large amounts of stuff. Life is just very different here and it will take time to get used to it but we're up for the challenge. We've already learned so much just in one day. Thanks for coming along on this journey with us! Until next time...
After a fairly decent night of sleep we were ready to hit the town and explore our area. The first item of business was to get SIM cards for our iPhones. Turned out neither one worked and it was going to be a big pain to fix the problem so we ended up buying 2 Android phones that work great. This one thing took us more than 2 hours to accomplish. I guess the Arabs have nothing on the Germans! Everything was done on foot and before noon, I had 10,000 steps in. The garbage collection here is out of control - 7 different containers for sorting your trash. I heard of this before but couldn't believe it was really true. One for wet trash, one for paper, one for colored glass, one for brown glass, one for clear glass, one for plastic, one for cardboard. Actually, I think there may be a couple other categories. It's unbelievable. The Germans are all about their bicycles, their dogs, their public transportation. There are trains above ground, below ground and trolleys running along the streets, besides buses. Our team mate gave us directions to get to the center where we'll go tomorrow night for a "language cafe". I think we'll leave a couple hours early to make sure we arrive on time. We walk about 15 minutes and then get on one certain train, go 6 stops and get off, walk across to the other tracks and go another 3 stops, then get off and walk another 15 minutes. Google Maps will be our best friend, they tell us. Grocery shopping is a whole other story! Every plastic bottle can be recycled at the store in a large machine. You get money back for each one, a lot of money. No bags anywhere; bring your own or pay a hefty fee for one. Not a word of English on anything so it's a big guessing game for some things. I think I brought home baking powder but I really have no idea. The fridge and dishwasher in my kitchen are miniature size. That's because people here go shopping every day and only buy what they need for that day since no one has a car and it's too heavy to carry large amounts of stuff. Life is just very different here and it will take time to get used to it but we're up for the challenge. We've already learned so much just in one day. Thanks for coming along on this journey with us! Until next time...
1 comments:
Glad to know that you arrived fine. Our women's group was thinking of you last night & others Wed. Google maps can be very handy esp to give you idea of walking time & directions for connections to public transport. Don't know your city, but I'm believing that you'll be amazed how much more adept you'll be at public transport in just 1 week! My search says Backpulver is baking powder auf Deutsch. Heather, Tallahassee
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