So this is Germany. You´ll love it. It´s awesome, believe me!
The first thing I noticed when we got off the plane was the smell- the smell! I mean, we just exited a plane, there was the distinctive smell of stinky fuel in the air yet the german summer smell outdid it! Its hard to describe, but let me try: it´s the smell of dried grass and wild flowers. It´s a little herby with a hint of sweetness.
The air always feels so moist, it´s like walking into an invisible mist of finely atomised body lotion. I really love it! I have a feeling that over 28 years my brain got programmed to recognize the smell and the feel because it instantly made me feel: it´s Summer!!!
Maybe that is why I never really feel like it is summer in Wellington, because my memory of it is far different from the crisp fresh air and the moderate temperatures. Same as in „Christmas does not feel like Christmas anymore!“
While I am writing this I am sitting in my in- law´s garden, dressed in a singlet and a skirt. My feet are warm even without socks on, I hear the rustling leaves of the trees in a slight breeze, the calming, far away sound of a plane and different kind of birds chirping. I want to lie on the soft, slightly damp grass and never get up ever again. This IS summer!
Earlier I mistook one of the birds as an owl. I stood underneath a tree and could not believe my ears. When I tried to see the „owl“ it flew away before I could spot it and when I – totally amazed- ran back inside and asked my mother in law if it was possible that I just heard an owl (In the middle of the day! Even better!), she just grunted and said:“Ah, na, that must have been one of those nasty crows!“ Uhm yeah. Let´s settle with: I heard an interesting bird! And, while I think about it… actually… my mother in law´s hearing isn´t the best anymore, so who knows, it might have been an owl after all!
There is a bowl with a whole bunch of red currants beside me- I could not resist, I had to go to the supermarket today! There were big (as in big!) containers with strawberries and they smelled like strawberries, right beside the red currants. Originally, Arthur and I went to the supermarket to get some „Knusperecken“, which is yoghurt in a square container and one corner (ecke) of it is filled with something crunchy (knusprig). Before you eat it you peal the lid off and then bend the corner with the crunchy stuff and empty it into the yoghurt and stir it. Hmmmmm. Sooo yummy!! I mean, it´s total trash, but still… and the yoghurt is quite decent itself, so all in all it can´t be that unhealthy!
But of course my mission of getting a few Knusperecken turned into:“Oh my god! I forgot about xyz and I should get it! And oh my god, I used to love these! Let´s buy them!“ so I had to tell myself to concentrate on the important stuff. Which means I actually made it through the supermarket (but to be fair, it is a rather small one!) with only four Knusperecken, a bag of my favorite chips (which are not vegetarian as they apparently contain the powder of dried, ground deer. And this isn´t a myth, it´s true! After veganism became big in Germany and not only shitloads of vegetarian and vegan products popped up in supermarkets, even discounters, and they all had sticker on them, stating that the product was approved by the vegetarian society or even more awesome was vegan, some people started wondering why my favorite „Funny Frisch ungarisch“ (hungarian-, they are paprika flavored! They taste bit like the Kettle BBQ ones, but they are thinner, kind of melty) did not show off the promotionally effective new sticker. Wouldn´t it have been ever so easy to stick them on a bag of chips, since chips are- no brainer!- vegetarian anyhow? Turns out they had something to hide and that this something had antlers…
But I lost track… where was I? Oh yes, the supermarket! So, I was balancing four Knusperecken, a bag of Funny Frisch, some chocolate wafers for Manfred (with a vegan sticker on it!) and the red currants in my arms when I saw vegetarian salami! I had to try the salami too, of course and while we were standing at the check out and waiting (you always have to wait at german check outs, there is at least one person in front of you. More likely three or four. In very bad cases ten. Possibly with huge shopping carts that are full to the brim. But as I said, this was a very small, the smallest possible supermarket) I noticed that the salami was on special, so I went back to get more and the noticed that the vegetarian luncheon was on special too, so I got a few packets of them, too. And this is how I ended up with yummy red currants which are still (partially) sitting in a bowl beside me while the bag of chips- you guessed it- is already empty…
For breakfast I had a slice of sourdough bread with cherry marmalade, while the kids ate strawberry cake. Our second breakfast two hours later was ice-cream. I had a“ black forest cup“. Ice with morello cherries and Kirsch and cream on top. Manfred had something similar but with blueberries (and no Kirsch!) while Arthur and Louise both ate „Spaghetti ice“, or as we would now (thanks to „What We Do in the Shadows“) call it “buscetti ice“ (Do you like it, Nick?)!
Buscetti ice!!
