From inside the expat suitcase - my US Goodwill frugal imports

On the recent US trip home, I mentioned about doing some shopping. First, for the expat food...

Here in the UK, we are not able to get so many options when it comes to Brownies or chocolate chip cookies. Even at the large Tesco supermarkets, there will usually only be one brownie mix (Betty Crocker, standard), and one type of chocolate chip for cookies in my corner of Essex.

If you've read me for a long while, you know that deserts are not my strong point; I don't really like sweets so I have a difficult time to put together something from scratch as I don't know how it's supposed to take at the end. I do know that my tolerance of sweet things is lower than most others, so something that I would enjoy at the end probably wouldn't generally be enjoyable to most. ;-)

New Friend Ian and I started a trend to take desert when we are invited to dinner. It's made even more special when the recipient finds out that the mix has been imported and is not available in the UK. As a result, we have the following from the supermarket:

I'm not much of a fan of eating our concoctions in the end, although I'll usually try them to have an idea of the taste. Therefore, I'm usually purchasing based on the photo on the box. Especially interesting to me are Betty's Supreme bars on the bottom right, sort of a combination of a chocolate chip cookie with a brownie.

On the top right are my Nature Valley Sweet and Salty Almond and Cashew bars. When I was in Dubai I tried these as I have never seen them before and found them to be quite pleasant. When I came back to the UK they were no where to be found. When I was last in the US I spotted them, however, and each time I bring back a few boxes. I find them useful to have in my backpack in the event that work unexpectedly goes late or I'm out and about.

And what caused all the weight in the suitcases?
--17 canning jars from Goodwill!
Those suckers are quite heavy. Last year, when I went to pickle my peppers, I was suprised by the lack of larger jars here in the UK. Then I figured out that the market is heavily geared toward smaller items like jams and chutneys. I had a few options such as importing them from France, but even used ones on ebay were pricey. Then I stumbled across the motherload at .49 and .99 US cents each, in America's heartland. Wrapped carefully in newspaper and clothing, every last one of them survived the journey. I also found lids at the Goodwill as well, but I'll need to get a few more of those next year. Now at least I'll have a good start for next year.

I also found this vintage American scale at Goodwill for a princely sum of 3.99. Slocombe insists on getting into most of my photos, here she is checking it out, along with some of the canning jars:


PS - to all the Germany bloggers enjoying the meetup in Cologne, hope it was a good trip.

The week in Germany - a wrap up

Last week was a nice time to visit Germany--fall has arrived with leaves changing color and crisp weather. (Well except for that one night when the weather was freakishly warm, above 20 still after the sun went down and we drank wine on the Balkon.)

I'm very lucky to be able to stay with a work colleague who has a very nice kitchen so I can buy foods and properly cook, instead of having to eat heavy hotel foods. I also consider myself to be blessed, my direct and indirect work colleagues are very nice, so the week was spent doing work while being invited multiple times for a coffee, lunch, etc.

While it was all pleasant enough to visit, I wouldn't really want to live there again.

One night, on the way home, I stopped off at Lidl in Leverkusen. (Leverkusen locally has a reputation of being a bit rough around the edges, working class.) In line behind me was a gentleman wearing the blue overalls of the working class uniform, and a dyed blond mohawk, perhaps 50 years old. As I'm past the queue and at the counter arranging items in my recycled box, he is then next to me doing the same.

He then says to me (in German): Pfui! It's too early for Christmas chocolates!
I have 15 items--pasta, tomato sauce, lettuce, etc. and he's commenting on the one Christmas item I have, a Milka Santa.

In my first few years of living in Germany, I probably would have felt affronted. Even in year three or four I may have stumbled along a response. After year five I think I got into the flow, and apparently, I have not forgotten this necessary attitude even after leaving.

Heather response: Ah yes, I used to lived in Germany, but now I only get to visit from England, and I will not return before Saint Nick day.

(To his credit, he managed to understand my less than perfect German. It's what I always liked about Leverkusen, the people seem a little friendlier to me than Cologne or D'dorf where they seemed personally offended by incorrect grammar.)

Leverkusen man: Ja, but you cannot buy a chocolate Santa Klaus in the UK?

Heather: Yes, but not such nice chocolate like Milka, and not so big, only little Santas.

Leverkusen man: Hmm! Then this is ok that you buy your German chocolate to take back to England...but this is not ok for normal Germans, this is too early.

*****
Well then. In addition, you'll be pleased to know that due to careful packing and AirBerlin's delicate suitcase handling, Milka man survived the trip back fully intact. :-)

into a 3 day weekend

i like how the UK seems to put all bank holidays on a monday. i'm also pleased with this one as it seems like a great time to schedule a bank holiday--the last week of August--odds are good for sunny weather. much nicer, than say, the November 1 one in Germany where it was usually raining that day in my corner of the world. ;-)

and even better--the stores are open here on a bank holiday, although on limited hours. therefore none of that crazyness of last minute shopping due to the stores being closed on sunday/monday--so feeling stress-free tonight. :-)

From the Saturday market and the rooftop garden

I went at 16.20 so the prices were starting to drop for the 17.00 shutdown. :-)

-In the photo, starting at 12 o'clock, 3 packages of strawberries from Kent, all 3 packages together were 2 GBP

-1 o'clock - 5 ears of corn for 2 GBP

-4 o'clock - 6 peaches for 2 GBP

-center - 3 bananas for 60 pence

-6 o'clock - 3 packages of berries for 2.50 GBP

-8 o'clock - young purple broccoli shoots and leaves, the giant bag for 1 GBP

So everything in the photo came to 10.10 GBP (16.51 USD/11.52 EUR). Food tends to be more expensive here in the UK, so I was pretty pleased at the above. To preserve the berries I am drying them as I would only be able to go through one package of the raspberries and one package of the strawberries before they would start to go off.

What aren't I buying there?

- Lettuce - I'm still a big convert of lettuce in a bag with the roots in dirt from asda as that extends its shelf life for me. Next week my roof terrace lettuce should be ready.

- Tomatos - those are coming from the roof terrace as well.

-Peppers - I'm not a big fan of eating them although I do enjoy growing them. Unfortunately, the roof terrace favors pepper growing. This proficient one has produced 3 so far with 18 more still growing, nevermind what her 3 sister are doing in their own right (the scotch bonnet, bell pepper and sweet pepper plants).

Other people get overwhelmed by zucchinni, I'm stuck with peppers. I never imagined this would be the case in the UK...

I've now taken to inviting people over so that I can make pepper based dishes. ;-) Tonight's guest is being treated to Mexican with a variety of chopped up pepper based salsas and fresh pepper toppings for the tacos.

The face of new Europe

While shopping on High Street on Sunday, I saw these two. (Yes! in my corner of Essex, all the shops are open on Sunday--but that's a different post.)

Unfortunately I missed to get the fellow's face in the photo--his is painted with the Lithuanian flag, while hers has the Polish one.

I've been to the store they advertise, it's close to my flat. Specifically--this store has all sorts of Eastern European goods--frozen pierogis and jars of mushrooms from Poland, Russian juices, frozen Lithuanian cepelinai, that sort of thing. There's little in the store which isn't Eastern European--unless it's something from elsewhere in Europe which one can buy in Eastern Europe--i.e. German Milka bars.

I find it interesting that they advertise the store as 'European' rather than 'Eastern European'--or maybe that's how they see themselves--as opposed to British.

They have little competition in my corner of Essex, beyond Tesco's token attempt to sell to the Eastern Europeans here by importing their cheeses and jars of pickles.

Super Saturday - from the market

August is a great time to buy local produce here in the UK. Most of the 'local' produce here is coming from Essex or Kent. It's especially good if you go at the end of the market day on Saturday as the prices start to drop. ;-)

My photo isn't so great, but starting at the bottom and moving clockwise:

1 bunch of carrots
2. cauliflower - the carrots and the cauliflower were a deal together, for 1 GBP
3. 3 kilos of onions - 1 GBP
4. bunch of 4 bananas (the only non-local item) .90 p
5. in the back - tomatos on the vine and small tomatos - the gigantic bag weighing a few kilos for 2 GBP
6. broad beans - 1 GBP for the lot of them
7. strawberries - 2 containers for 2.50 GBP
8. in front - rosemary/olive oil bread - 2.50 GBP

I'm now set for the next few days with veg, excluding lettuce. :-)

In front of Tesco

Can't you imagine a bunch of UK marketing folks...
What is American?
-Cheeseburgers?
-No brownies!
-No chips!
-What about soda??

Heck, let's just do it all...

Online grocery shopping in the UK

If you read even 10% of my posts you probably know that I despise shopping. It's not just brick and mortar shopping, I don't want to spend hours online shopping either. Not sure if it's the cheapness factor, or moreso the desire to limit the amount of clutter entering this tiny flat.

The past few times I've been schlepping cans of refried beans and bottles of fizzy water up the steps, I've been heavily considering alternatives. I had dropped fizzy water from the Heather rotation, as well as beer (glass bottles too heavy for four flights of stairs and I'm not so fond of cans as they don't go cold enough), plus having to park down the street after 6 PM as I don't have parking yadda, yadda...

Perhaps my brain was being slow (and thinking only in German mode where online grocery shopping is not yet available--correct me on that?) but it took me about six weeks to give this a spin. I think I'm a convert based on this first experience.

I was guessing I needed to go with Asda, Tesco or Sainsbury online. Asda is my mainstay, so I decided to start with that one. Sure there's deliver to my postal code (I'm in the heavily populated area, so I'm not surprised there.) Now it becomes interesting...supply and demand...different delivery times have different prices.

As we all know--Heather in Europe may have well have grown up in a depression because I went for one of the cheapest slots. Most interesting to me--for my postcode, shopping on a Tuesday evening, I could book until 10 PM for a Wednesday delivery which was the cheapest. I love economics. Wednesday and Thursday are the same for me this week--make Wednesday 1 GBP cheaper and you can influence my behavior.

More interesting--certain slots have a little truck icon:
'Reduce carbon emissions. A van might be in your area.'
However, those prices are the same as the ones immediately before and after. I expect You, Asda, to be smarter and manipulate my behavior using your technology and data. If you'd knock it down another 50 p or 1 pound, I'd sign up. If you're already coming to my building for another order it's a sunk cost for you...

So off I go online to shop. I know the Asda prices of the items I buy regularly and they were the same online. I know I need a refill on items like cans of catfood. In addition, I'm in one of my Mexican moods so every dinner for myself alone for the past 10 days has been Mexican. Load up the fajitas and refried beans!

So I go through the online browsing and clicking and paying. I love techonology! Tonight, my delivery slot is 6 to 8 PM. Tick tock. At 7.50 the driver calls--where are you on your street? At the end, where it meets this street. OK, be there shortly. Ten minutes later, another call...I'm in front of (Heather's local pub), but I cannot find you? Hold on, I'll pop out.

So seeing from whence I came, he now found me and is able to schlep up my Entire Order in one go, up four flights of stairs. Keep in mind, I was going all out with the heavy things thinking this would be a once a month or once every three weeks adventure. Therefore, my very heavy order included:
-4 bottles of 2 liter fizzy water
-7 bottles of wine. I was very excited to find some non-alcoholic wine options to try as these are not available in my local store
-12 cans of cat food
10 cans of refried beans
And such a sweetheart, at the door he says, 'well that was a workout, but at least I now know where you are for next time.'

I can only imagine what he thinks--no veg or fresh things (I still want to pick those things out myself from the farmers' market), a plethora of white wine and every el paso Mexican item made in the UK because there was a good sale on.

Final verdict: I'm a big fan. OK--so I had said 'no substitues' on any out of stock items and they were out of my on-sale organic eggs. However, I like fizzy water and I've missed it over the past few weeks. 3.50 GBP (4.05 EUR/5.76 USD) is a very small price for me to pay to avoid 5 miles of driving/exhorbitant petrol cost and the hassle of wandering around the store and waiting in line and packing it up and putting it in the car, parking up, and making multiple trips up and down the four flights of stairs.

I'll definitely do it again, and probably with Asda. Tesco gets on my nerves because their computer system is not up to date so I cannot register my address online for their loyalty card (the address has been here for almost three years so I expect some better technology) and Sainsbury charges more for delivery in general, so those 3,50 slots are few and fair between for my postal code, whereas they're pretty easy to get with Asda.

So here it is Wednesday night and I'm already looking forward to a weekend which won't involve going to a supermarket. Things couldn't get much better on a Wednesday night...

Home furnishing on the cheap

I hate shopping. While I've been off for work, the idea of spending the week in the stores is painful. Not so much from the 'spending money' aspect (although that's probably part of it), but more for the idea of the effort of having to schlep around, look at things, find things, buy things, and carry them up four flights of stairs.

(Do I sound like a German here-->why do we need to many choices? why do the stores need to be so big?)

For the basics, I've resorted to Poundland just to get up and running, and because I can get there without the car.

In case I'm missing Germany while living in the UK

No problem, I only need to drive 7 minutes to go to this one:

Or Aldi is 10 minutes in the opposite direction. See the sale advert on the wall next to the door? Just like in Germany.

Did you bring your change to get a cart? You don't need it for Asda, Tesco or any other UK supermarket chain, but you need it here:

The layout of the store is similar to the ones I've seen in DE. A row of beverages/candy, with dairy along the back. Selection here does seem a little different. I had to check out the two websites. I see Greek week is coming up in DE, not so in the UK. Although both are offering bicycle clothing right now.

Oh look--Schnittlaunch and Petersilie, and the little signs are in the same font/style as in DE. Cheaper! (Billiger!)


I had popped in after work on Friday, which is something I wouldn't do so quickly in Germany, just because I know the store would be packed with people buying a full cartload of items. Here, people were coming in just for a handful of things. (Although, they have competition next door from the low cost frozen foods place.)

Well, here's an improvement, I don't recall 'Butter Toffee' Popcorn in DE:


So we're continuing to propagate the myth of 'American Style' Pizza.

Overall--it's always good to have options, but it won't be on my regular rotation. Although it wasn't in DE either, as I preferred Pennymarkt or Aldi Sued there. Still to come in the UK--Aldi.

22.16 on Friday night

We went to the 24 hour Tesco:

Living in Germany didn't manage to break me of the late night shopping habit. While I can understand the arguments I heard while living there (the workers should have a day off with their families, you should be able to plan your shopping to meet their hours), I like having the option to shop late.

That being said, late night shopping here hasn't yet reached the true 24 hour status like in America. My Tesco's hours?

Monday 08.00-00.00

Tues-Fri: 24 hours

Sat: 00.00-22.00

Sun: 10.00-16.00

Who is at Tesco at 22.16 on a Friday night? Mainly:

-A lot of stock people.

-Kids buying beer.

It was easy to park, the sale items were fully in stock, and there were no lines at the checkout, superb!

shopping on a theme

In Germany the low-cost chains such as Aldi, Lidl and Plus run weekly adverts around a theme: cleaning week, house improvement week, moving week, baby week, auto cleaning week, etc. Then, you can buy lots of things which relate to that theme, for that week and that week only. If you want to buy auto cleaning products in a different week, you're out of luck and must go to a regular, full-price store.

For the food section they offer a similar method to keep things fresh and moving out the door, by offering foods related to a particular topic such as:
American week
Indian week
and a variety of other cuisine weeks: Chinese, French, Italian, British, Mexican and Spanish come to mind. Speaking only for the American week, their offerings tend to be a German take on the particular cuisine--so popcorn from America, but sweet instead of salty for the German tastes or 'American' sauces: barbecue (of course) and currywurst (huh?). But, for a few items, if you find one which you like, you can stock up at a great price for something not usually easily available here at a good price--a colleague mentioned buying enough tortillas at Mexican week to last until Mexican week again appears in a few months.

I don't shop every week so I don't always watch the adverts, but I think this may be the first time that our friends to the North get their own week:
Scandinavian week at Lidl. (OK, so the three countries are sharing this dubious distinction.) Considering the chilly temps we've had over the past few weeks, we may as well be in Scandinavia.

Behold, the purse

Since Natalie asked:

It's tough to see in the photo but it's dark brown leather and seems to be a Rossetti knock off. I put my mittens in the photo to give you an idea of its small size. The mittens are from my trip to Estonia a while back and perfect for the recent below freezing temps in DE.

Sunday happenings in the tiny town of B

Recommended musical selection while reading this to set the mood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eDkAG3R0h8

Normally Sunday in the tiny town of B is quiet, except for the church bells. However, the past Sunday had big happenings, it was 'Shopping Sunday/Spring Festival/Family Fesival' all in one. Many (but not all) of the stores were open, there was a stage with entertainment, and lots of street stalls selling various wares, some for local charities, others commercial, and plenty of food, beer, etc.

My favorite part of the weekend?
Here are the people waiting at the 'Bahnhof' (train station):



The 'train' has arrived:

OK, ok so it's a tractor on the the front. There's plenty of them around here as we're in farm country. Curiously it wasn't raining, although it was rather chilly.

It goes for a circle around B, and then winds back up through the shopping street. The photos don't really give it justice, but it's actually packed to the gills with adults and children, with flags from around the world adorning each car, including a US one.

It's that time again...

American week at Lidl starts on Wednesday.

Although--since when do Americans eat hot dogs from a jar and sweet popcorn?

Shopping Sunday at Venlo Tref this weekend - Jan 13

I love the smell of commerce on a Sunday. My tiny, black, rock-hard heart is gently warmed and softened by the thought of a supermarket being open on a Sunday in Europe.

Venlo Tref: http://www.trefvenlo.nl/site/nederlands/openingstijden/

And of course, every Sunday is shopping Sunday at Jumbo Roermond.

Which one is better? Six of one half dozen of the other. Both are large supermarkets selling a wide range of items. Just going on size--I'd say that Tref is bigger and thus more choices.

Buying toilet paper on a Sunday with more than 5 options, how decadent.
(Where I live in Germany the standard supermarket options are somewhat limited.)

The Oct 3 holiday in review - Part II

Following on Part I of the story, we walked all the way to the end of the street festival. I was surprised at how crowded it was considering it was still the work day, but we later found out it was the last day of the fair. Along the way we saw lots of rides and games, but nothing really stood out. I would have done the nice ferris wheel, but neither of us had brought a camera to capture the surrounding view.

I pointed out to D the camel racing game. It was a game I played often at the Jersey shore while growing up, but ours were jockeys on horses. It's sort of like skee ball, you have a small ball and must roll it up and aim for one of the 7 holes. The more difficult the hole the higher the points, or if you aim poorly the ball just comes back down the gutter and you get no points. As you get points, your camel/horse moves forward, competing against the other 13 or so players doing the same thing.

D. kindly offered that we should play a round, after I mentioned that I was 'the absolute best' at this game in my younger years. After overcoming the embarrassment that it was mainly children playing, we were signed up for two games each. Of course I won. I'm not sure if D was more embarrassed that I was as good as I said, or that his gf just triumphed over a group of 8 year olds. Then I lost the second game by a hair to the little girl sitting one seat over from me. The winning little girl gave her prize to her little sister who was sitting next to me. So I then gave my prize on the previous game to that little girl.

All gamed out we wondered back through the town for some final shopping. It was also a shopping Sunday that coming Sunday. Back at the car we had planned to have a drive back to Roermond to go to the supermarket. It was just before 17, but fortunately there wasn't much of a commuter backup in Weert. We made a quick stop at the garden center on the way out of town, but they did not have what I was seeking.

Earlier in the afternoon I had spotted a farm selling I was guessing pumpkins and that sort of thing based on a big pumpkin filled cart in the field. They had a Dutch flag out front and a sign saying something in Dutch, but it may as well have said 'Dutch drugs' for all we knew. I spotted it on the way back and we took a chance in pulling into the driveway at exactly 17.00. Once in the driveway you could see what you could not see from the road--the most beautiful display of bright orange pumpkins, along with other assorted gourds and that sort of thing.

It seemed to be a hobby farm as all they had were pumpkins and gourds, and each one had a tiny little handwritten price sticker. The display was laid out tastefully and meticulously in the garage/barn. Each item had been handwashed so everything was without a speck of dirt. The stems were fresh like everything had come from the immediately adjacent field. The best part was that the prices were a lot cheaper than in Germany where pumpkin retails for 1.50 eur/kilo.

D and I ended up with all that we could carry for 14 euros. For that princely sum I bought one perfect Halloween pumpkin, perhaps 5 pounds, a tall dark green gourd maybe 3 pounds, a short, squat and bumpy varigated 2 pound gourd, a small perfect pumpkin perhaps 2 pounds to sit next to my door in the hallway, a one pounder for the office, and two jack be littles at 50 cents each to give away to Germans who are temping for me. Yes, Halloween is my favorite holiday still.

-->If you want to go to this wonderful pumpkin stand, it's easy to find and a short trip if you've already made the trek to Roermond. Go to Roermond to the outlets. If coming from Germany from the east you'll probably come in on the N280, so that the outlet center is on your right and town proper is on your left. Just stay on the same main road and follow the signs toward Weert. The road will narrow down from two lanes in each direction to one, and you'll start to see crop fields.

The farm has a large Dutch flag out front and a sign in Dutch that meant nothing to either D or I understanding German. IF you happen to pass it (and you may as it is only a little driveway between a house and a cornfield), don't fret. You'll know for sure if you've passed it once you see a large horse-drawn cart filled with pumpkins etc. parked in the field next to it, which would be your signal to turn around.

Anyway...with the car filled with pumpkin purchases, we kept heading back in the Roermond direction, and upon reaching the outlet area again at 1720, we found it to be an absolute parking lot. No worries as we had planned to turn off anyway to go to Jumbo in Roermond. I like Jumbo as much as I like Tref in Venlo. Both have nice selections overall and good vegetarian selections. And, some recent good news:

JUMBO IN ROERMOND IS OPEN ON SUNDAYS FROM 12-17 FOR THE REST OF 2007 as some sort of trial phase. Supermarket shopping every Sunday of the year if I would like. Do you live in the Cologne/Dusseldorf area? Send me a note and we can arrange a train station where I can find you and I will drive you over to Roermond to share in my happiness and my desire to shop there on Sundays to show support of such a policy. My Dutch colleague found it amusing that the announcement was in Dutch on a sandwich board in front of the supermarket, but that they also provided a smaller translation in German.

While I shopped, D had 'bottle duty.' I have begun to carry around all extra bottles that need to be recycled outside of Germany. Like it's not enough of a hassle inside of Germany. Since I sometimes have worktrips to Belgium I end up picked up some raspberry beer there, as well as sometimes in Holland. I had around 20 extra bottles that belonged somewhere, but I was not sure where. Interestingly, the exact same cherry beer has two different bottle shapes depending on if it is purchased in Holland or in Belgium, and of course it can only go back from whence it came.

The people in Jumbo Roermond were so helpful trying as D was putting things into their automated machine and making it unhappy. Sometimes when you get a person, they know the bottle dimensions, so they will override the machine and take another bottle if they are selling the same exact thing but of a different variety, so the person recognizes what the machine cannot with its barcode rules. At the end of the day they managed to take everything except one type of Hoegaarden bottle that they explained says on the back that it is not a deposit returning bottle (oops) and a six pack of Budweiser bottles that they sell, but in a different bottle shape, so not returnable there.

We hopped back into the car at 18.00, but traffic was still an absolute parking lot so we decided to stop for dinner rather than risk getting home at 21.00 starving. We parked up and took a walk around already knowing in general Roermond town center. We went to New Delhi Indian restaurant which is located on Neerstraat 32 (very near to the town/mall entrance of Jumbo NOT the parking lot side) and is open Mon-Fri from 18-22.30 and Sat 17-23. It was not 'burn your mouth out' Indian, but a gentler, full of flavor Indian. Everything tasted like it was freshly prepared. The man and his daughter who run the customer side (I think Mom was in the kitchen cooking) were absolutely delightful in personality. Highly recommended and we would go back even if we didn't need to wait out a traffic jam. They do not serve alcohol, and my only regret was that I did not try their alcohol free wine as I saw another table order a second glass.

Finally it was after 20 by the time we were back in the car, and thankfully all the Germans were back over the border so the drive home only took an hour or so. We got pummeled by the fantastic rainstorms upon arriving back in the Cologne area but that was the first rain we saw all day, so ok.

The Oct 3 holiday in review - Part I

Earlier this week, Wednesday Oct 3, was the German reunification holiday, so a mid-week day off from work. I had not bothered looking for any travel opportunities because the Germans tend to book 51 weeks in advance, so the prices get jacked up.

I'm so far over on the western side of Germany where the only comment upon the day is to grumble about the reunification tax coming out of one's paycheck and how 'we never should have gone back together with them'. In the local paper there was a flea market scheduled, but otherwise, it would have been a day of sitting at home with all of the shops shut. So therefore, you know the drill...

At 10.30 we were off and heading immediately west, destination Roermond. We had planned to wander around the outlets and around town, wrapping it up with some shopping at Jumbo supermarket in Roermond. The expected drive time should have been one hour 20 minutes. However, as expected, the approximately 70 billion other Germans in the Cologne/Duesseldorf/Duisberg region, all also wanted to go over the Dutch border to shop. And they say Germans don't want the stores open any more than they are now. Pffui.

The traffic was obnoxious, so we finally rolled into Roermond at just before 13 and the outlet parking lot was closed which pushed us into the town proper where I already know that parking options are limited. After listening to the German cars beeping each other (which was why I was leaving Germany in the first place, for a break of Germany), I made the executive decision that we were getting back on the road and continuing westward.

D got out the map with the instructions-->find the next big Dutch city from here, which turned out to be Weert, a mere 17 km away. By this time we were rather hungry as it was working toward 14, and just in need of something like a McDonalds. The highway transitioned to a one lane road which then changed to a brick road--in Weert. Lo and behold a McDonalds sign pointing us toward the Centrum. Weert seemed from the road to be laid out in a circle, so we decided just to park and head in on foot.

I chose a parking spot, and as I was parking noticed that someone was watching me from a balkon. I take extreme (although laughable) pride in my parallel parking, and living in Germany has only made it that much better. If you need to get your manual car in or out of a spot uphill in in the sleet with a one inch clearance on either side, give me a call. Add added difficulty on this spot was that it crossed a bicycle lane, and as it was Holland a cycle was passing every 15 seconds, as well as a vintage Mercedes was parked behind me.

As we got out of the car--of course only after I asked D to confirm who the best parker in the Western world is--the older man on the balkon shouts something down to D. As we were coming from Germany, I was expecting him to shout at us to get out of his 'private' spot on the public street, based on the fact that he looked to be of retired age. D tried to figure out what he wanted in German, but wasn't getting it, so scurried off to get the parking slip. As I got out, the man's wife joined the man and he tried again with me.

He was commending me on my superb parking job. THIS is why I go to Holland. It made the almost three hour drive almost worth it, to have someone who appreciates good parking. (And I think it was his vintage Mercedes behind me.) D came back with the slip to put on the dashboard and we stood there a moment trying to figure out the best way to McDonalds. The ever helpful Dutch couple, seeing our confusion, starting to shout and point to direct us which street to take. How did they possibly know we wanted to go to McDonalds?

It became a little more clear once we followed their instructions, there was a huge street fair going on, and that is what they directed us to (conveniently located next to the McDonalds). We were so hungry we just went to the McDonalds anyway. I was a little disappointed, they did not carry the 'Groenburger' or the vegetarian burger that many Holland McDonalds sell. We then took a stroll down the main shopping street, where various things street fair things were set up, like games, food, rides, etc. I ended up finding a plain piece of pizza so all was well. The street fair went on for quite a long while, if you were speed walking from one end to the other, I imagine it would have taken 20 min, but we took our time, stopping to go into the open stores also.
To be continued...

Forced frugality (aka life in Germany)

Growing up in the Phillyland area, I realized later, it was a bit of a lean life. It's a blue collar town with blue collar people, where life can sometimes be hard. However, we never seemed poor, as everyone else lived the same life, basically. I consider it an advantage today.

I keep up with US life mainly through the internet, and recently I stumbled into the Congressional Food Stamp Challenge where members of Congress tried in May/June to live on what the average food stamp person receives (yeah, I'm a little behind on the surfing). This then led to related 'money saving' and 'being frugal' tips. I wasn't surprised to see many of these reflected in how I grew up. What surprised me was how many of them I do in Germany, but not out of conscious choice, but more through living "normal Germany" life here, or living as a US expat here.

Of what such things are you speaking, heather in europe? Glad you asked:

1. Bringing my own re-usable shopping bags to the supermarket. My current trend is to use one from Trader Joe's to see if anyone here will ever recognize it. Four months and counting and no one has.

-The bag reuse is now taking hold in the US: http://www.reusablebags.com/action.php?id=6


2. Yes, the vegetarian thing.

-However, something new I have learned since being here, however. Vegetarianism as a food cost saving methodology: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney/GoVegetarianToSaveMoney.aspx

3. Eat seasonally and locally. This was a large change for me personally, as given the choice I would have broccoli every single week for 52 weeks. Right now is a vegetable explosion in Germany with lovely salads to be made. February forces me to be creative with cabbage, carrots and potatos from the root cellar, along with fabulous soups. I eat seasonally here, as often that is the only option. (you try finding a strawberry in the winter months!)

-Apparently, this seasonal eating is now a 'cost saving' tip in the US:
http://fitfare.net/2007/03/02/10-fairly-easy-ways-to-eat-healthfully-save-money-and-save-the-world/

4. Re-use of ziploc bags - This one relates to being an expat and not having the whole ziploc line here. I use them not only for food storage, but more often for storing other things like toiletries.

I make a bag of 20 last an entire year until I go back to the US by re-using them liberally. Apparently so do some other people, minus the 'going back to the US' part: http://lifehacker.com/xml/comments/278476

5. Taking public transport/walking - public transport options are much better here than in the US, in particular for suburb to suburb/small town trips like I took this weekend. Not only are the options better, more people take it, so it's less of a danger than in the US where the late night buses were not so safe for a single female. Generally I find myself walking more because things are more walkable and less parkable, so often it's easier to walk.

-I thought this was an interesting spin on the topic from the US, in actually measuring your savings:
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/03/28/save-money-with-your-feet/

6. Shop at Aldi - a German once told me that I am very fortunate as I live near the 'Aldi border'. 'My' Aldi Sued is five minutes by car or 20 minutes by foot. There is also an Aldi Nord 15 minutes away by car. Not every German can be so lucky to be able to go to both. Although I never do as I have a plethora of other low cost stores less than 15 minutes away.


In particular I go to Aldi Sued for their Bio Tofu and veg hotdogs and burgers, and because they are on the way home from work. Also, I find at the Pennymarkt more tempting things, so I try not to go so often to the Pennymarkt. (Damn them and their low, low prices. My last Penny purchase was a picnic blanket that has a plastic foil like coating on the back and folds up nicely for 3.99. I didn't go shopping for such a thing, but with the soggy grass here, I've used it twice so far with fantastic results.)
-It seems there are some true Aldi US fans out there, and they've even gone so far as to plan meals and give you a shopping list to help you save money:
http://momadvice.com/food/aldi_meal_plan.aspx

7. Bring your lunch to work - Since moving to the new office where there is no canteen, and not even a vending machine, my eating has improved from having to always bring my own. True, I could wait for the shuttle, take it over to the main building for a total of 15 minutes lost each way, but the deep fried, cheese laden, unhealthy plates weren't worth walking down the stairs when we were there, let alone actually making a special trip for it.

There is an imbiss about a five minute walk away, and the people are very nice, but their food is just so-so. There is, however, an Edeka four km away so I can do my main weekly shopping and pick up some salad things to last me the week in the office with salads, or I bring something from home as we do have a microwave. There's also the advantage that I can do my weekly shop at lunchtime and save myself the Saturday morning chaos trip.

- I don't do such calculations as they do here, but it is interesting the possibilities:
http://www.cleverdude.com/articles/finances/frugal-lunch-by-clever-dudette/

Apparently I'm not being frugal with words, however, based on the length of the above.

why June 7th is my favorite German holiday

--more often than not, it tends to rain on the May holidays. it never rains here on the June one, or so i think anyway. ;-)
--neither belgium nor the netherlands have this day as a holiday, so stores are open across the border. just think of the shopping possibilities. and even better, it's not just one or the other, so the crush of germans crossing the border will be a little more spread out.
--the germans don't go across the border so much on this holiday anyway, or for some reason there seems to be less traffic, perhaps not only for the above reason. i imagine if it's nice weather the rule is to stay home and work on the garden, because, well, it's the rule for June 7.
--my balkon garden actually has some green shoots and baby plants to look at where it didn't so much in May.
--i've started to regularly take my main holiday for the year in July. so now it's only a month away.