An American Furry in Germany

Putting milk, cinnamon, and sugar into cooked rice is not a new concept to me. It's quite tasty, very cheap, and very filling. But what is new to me is the concept of using the milk itself, instead of water, to cook the rice in. It thickens the milk, and results in an extremely creamy, almost pudding-like mixture of deliciousness.
In fact, it might be too delicious. It doesn't seem like such a large serving here, but when I remember that it was created from a liter of milk, I'm less surprised that it's filling me up this fast. Now I get to see how well it stores compared to plain rice...

They actually taste pretty good.

Dear Germany:
What's so hard to understand about the term "water fountain"? We need water to live. When I'm visiting a public landmark, I don't want to walk around thirsty for hours and hours because all the shops are closed. When I'm in a restaurant, I don't want to go thirsty because it costs €1,50 for literally just a few swallows of water (0,2 liters). I can understand that there might not be much incentive for McD's to give out free ketchup, but I won't die for lack of ketchup. Not that I've ever been in any real danger of death by dehydration... I'm just thirsty.

Oh, and in case there's anyone reading this who doesn't know what a water fountain is (no, it's not a "fountain"): it's a box that sticks up out of the ground and squirts water into the air when you press the button. You drink the water out of the air--which sounds a lot harder than it actually is, now that I think about it. Usually the water is cold and filtered (often it's too cold, actually, and it hurts the teeth), and of course nobody charges you to use one. They're found in schools, office buildings, parks, and public areas like libraries, monuments, and touristy areas. (Not in restaurants, just to clear things up--in restaurants the waiters come around and refill your glass of water whenever it gets low. Plus they give you free bread.)

The last part of the orientation week was an organized pub-crawl at 8 pm at the Lagerhaus. I know Germans are supposed to be punctual, but these are students, so I took my time, and arrived at 8:30. Apparently there was a soccer game yesterday, because everyone was wearing "Werder Bremen" scarves and other paraphernalia... and drinking. Along the way I met a few Germans who were out drinking, and we struck up a conversation. It's very strange because we were speaking entirely in German, but I was actually communicating at a decent rate. We were holding an actual conversation. We got off at the same stop, and they helped me find the Lagerhaus. When I got there, though, I couldn't find anyone. I wandered around the bar (which was surprisingly big--apparently the Lagerhaus is a performing arts venue, along with the "Cafe Lagerhaus" which was the bar) for a good ten minutes before I found a group of students from Spain, also trying to find out whether we were in the right place. We wandered around for a while longer, collecting more Spaniards and Mexicans, but we didn't find anyone else. One girl went around a corner to see if there was maybe another Lagerhaus, and she came back all startled, telling us (in Spanish) that she had seen someone lying in the street shooting up through a vein in his leg. The only words I could understand were "sin pantalones", but I got the general picture.
After that we went to a bar called Bermuda, and about ten more Spanish-speaking students showed up, and one from France. We started talking, because everyone else was only talking in Spanish. It was "Happy Aua", so I got two beers for € 2,50. They weren't actually beers--I don't like beer--they were a beer-based beverage called "Beck's Chilled Orange". Not bad, but it wasn't that great. Later on, the French student and I went back to the Lagerhaus. This was around 10, and finally the other students had arrived.
Oh yeah. On the way back, I was hungry, so I got a hot dog from a street vendor. It was really good, actually, but I'm still confused by it. It was topped with ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, dill pickle slices, and... something else. It looked like it might have been bacon bits, and it was very light and crunchy... but it wasn't bacon bits. Does anyone know what it was? If I can't figure it out soon, I'm going to have to go back there and ask him--and I'm not prepared to find out that now there's no stand there, and never was. Gasp!

Anyway... I happened to have very little cash on me last night, so I couldn't afford a beer by the time I got to the Lagerhaus, even if I had wanted one. The strange result of this is that everyone asked me at least four times why I wasn't drinking anything. First I said I didn't have any more money, which was met with a kind of shrug and a look that seemed to mean "Why does that matter?". Next I tried saying that I had two beers already, which was kind of a lie, and even if it had been true, it didn't work. They had half-liter glasses of beer at the table. After that I just said that I didn't drink much, which was unbelievable for two reasons: First, they didn't understand that the phrase implicitly meant "alcohol", and second, how could I not like beer? I have yet to ask anyone how they could like beer, but I suspect the reason is simply peer pressure. They drink it because that's what people do--they drink, smoke, and talk. And somehow, none of that interests me.
At some point we left the Lagerhaus to head to a night club. I was kind of tired, and realizing that this type of entertainment wasn't really my thing, but I went along with it for a while longer. You never know until you try, right? So we got on the tram, and were immediately followed by ten thousand drunken soccer fans, singing, joking, and generally being less than sober. When we finally got to the club, there was a huge line outside. I figured that there were only two reasons there could be a line: 1, there's no room in the club, and they have to wait for people to come out before more can go in--in which case it would take forever for us to get in. 2, there was something taking time happening at the door--probably a cover charge, in which case I would probably be turned away at the door. So I decided that it was time to go home (particularly because I can't dance anyway, and probably shouldn't try).

So, I guess it's just not my thing. I tried it out, though, so now I know what it's like, and furthermore I realized that not everyone goes out to drink. It's mistaken to assume that those who do are the "popular kids"--they're just the ones that happen to enjoy the taste of beer and cigarettes, and have an endless ability to talk about nothing. So I'll stick to my own interests, and not try to be someone I'm not.

Okay, today I was in the mood for eating. I get that way sometimes... and I always end up giving in to it, sooner or later. This time I decided to try Subway. There are many Subways all over Bremen, and it's the only place where you can get free refills. It's probably the only thing you can get for free in all of Germany. And it turned out to be very good food--slightly less fresh than in the US, so far as I've seen, but very tasty.
Unfortunately, I completely forgot that in Subway, you have to tell them everything you want on the sub. When I walked in the door, I saw the ordering area and said "Oh crap, I forgot they eat fresh here."
But I managed to get through it. I looked up ahead of time all the names for the vegetables I wanted, and I only paused for a moment when she asked what vegetables I wanted, because I forgot to look up the word "vegetable". And of course no-one enunciates in the food service industry.
And it turned out to be delicious. I have successfully eaten fresh.

Yep, this was a two-post day. And maybe some other day I'll explain the title.

But there is a first time for everything, ne? Yes, I got drunk. No, it wasn't excessive. I didn't eat breakfast today, and I didn't eat a lot at the cafeteria either. I mean, I ate until I was full... but considering the quality of the food, that didn't take long. :P And then there was that 3-hour German course. So after that we went out drinking.
We found this really nice German pub--not very old, but very old-looking. Heaps of atmosphere. And of course we just happened to drop in at happy hour. So... I've tried Beck's, recently, and had to cautiously admit to native Bremers that I didn't like it at all. I believe it's a light beer. And I always figured that a dark beer would have more of the same taste, so I would like it even less. Unless I happened to run into a particularly different brand today, I don't think that's the case. The dark beers have more flavor overall, which sort of drowns out the bitterness. I wish they could make a beer that wasn't bitter at all, but I guess some people like the taste of just having vomited? *shrug* (I'm not exaggerating... that's exactly the aftertaste Beck's leaves in my mouth... but you won't hear me say it anywhere else.)
Anyway, I ordered a dark beer, and I kind of liked it. And then, to my surprise, I found out what it's like to be mildly tipsy. :P It was nothing special. A new experience, but somewhat inferior to being completely lucid. And then I decided that I should probably eat something.
Can you believe I haven't eaten a single sausage since I've been here? That must be remedied.