Culture Shock

I have finally overcome my anti-blog tendencies and decided to give this a shot, so hello family and friends. This is for you-so you no longer have to hear partial or repeated stories when I can't remember what I've already told you (which is inevitable). Just keep my voice in mind and this should make sense. Otherwise it will probably be somewhat gibberish-like.

Anyway, I have arrived in Germany and things are going great. Although I am getting used to new things all the time.

1) I couldn't find the flusher. I was informed that it is the giant button on the wall two feet above the toilet.

2) No fan in the bathroom. Showering has never been so quiet.

3) Remember etiquette class, when they told you to put your fork and knife across plate to signal that you're done? Well they actually do that here. And not just stuffy rich people at restaurants that I could never afford.

But nothing tops the big shocker I had today while ordering food:

I was given an international menu with pages of different languages (I had to use the one with the little British flag, which I thought was ironic since they were trying to make the place seem more authentic American). I then spotted the item named "American salad." I thought to myself, "Hm. What does this entail?" I then found that it was an American salad because it had American dressing. Then, feeling quite foolish, as probably the only American in the restaurant I had to turn to my German family and ask, "What is American dressing? Like Ranch, maybe?" They informed me that it was closer to Thousand Island. Then they directed me to French dressing and I'm thinking, "That one I know." They said "No, not the stuff that's like ketchup. French is more like ranch." Then looking nervously at the dressing list I asked, "So how about Italian? Is that like what I'm thinking Italian dressing is?" They told me that one was pretty close. Whew. So, I ordered an American salad with French dressing and still water. I think the only German word I used was "mit" (with) and I kind of just muttered it. I don't think the waitress even heard. But hey, it's a start. I can only handle so much culture shock at once, especially when I'm trying to figure out what "American" is supposed to be. Sidenote: I had "Everyone knows I'm in over my head..." playing on a loop in my mind this morning...

I'm not sayin'-I'm just sayin'.