What Germans Think of Americans

I was at Real today (German big box mart) in hopes of finding curry and other Thai/Indian cooking essentials. I found the international section, which is fabulous and mammoth in comparison to wimpy international cuisine sections found at your typical American grocer.

And yes, I found an American section. Behold.






So if you were skeptical about Americans' food choices being subpar, well, just take a looksy. It seems that American cuisine consists of cheese wiz, marshmallows, mayonnaise, chocolate syrup, pop tarts, crisco, and other highly processed/downright loser foods.

I laughed to myself, and then grew somber. The Mexican section had various peppers and salsas, Asian had rices and sauces, Middle Eastern had olives, hummus and cous cous (as well as my drool), and this is all the US of A has to show for in a German supermarket. Sigh.

In other fun news, Matt and I went to pick ip mail the other day and found this at the counter:



Yes, that's a rock on a box. It seems the Army is really cutting corners these days.

Have a spectacular poptartless day :)

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The Tillman Story

Matt and I just got done watching "The Tillman Story". Wow.

It's about former NFL player and soldier Pat Tillman. He left his career as a million dollar football star to become an Army Ranger and was killed in Afghanistan.


A compelling story of an amazing family, and remembering their brother, son and husband.  What dedication and love.  

Watch this film.

Do you believe in Superman?

This weekend was awesome! Matt came back home (yessss!) and we spent the entire weekend with the Zimas. Friday night we had sloppy joes and played bananagrams (shout out to the Florys!) and Scattagories.

Saturday we went on a fun hike through the Palatinate Forest, and Patton was able to join. Gosh, I love hiking, but I am SO out of shape. It really gave us the itch to go camping, so I'm sure we'll be doing that soon. Is there anything more grounding than nature???

And Sunday we went golfing! Our first time on this continent - twas fun. Then we ate dinner at a super exclusive restaurant, Chili's. We didn't even have to call in reservations!

On top of a fun filled weekend with our friends, we also watched a phenomenal documentary called "Waiting for Superman". I picked it up a couple weeks ago and (anxiously) waited to watch it with the hubby.

It is about the United States' education system and is quite riveting. I have always been a firm, nay, staunch, supporter of all unions. Going into this I had my own opinions, but decided to keep an open mind. This film is not based on dismantling teacher's unions, but it addresses issues with them, for sure. 

We did not find it politically bias in any way, and I urge everyone to watch it, even if they don't have children.  Just watch :)

Loves.

Spring's first BBQ!

Matt came home on Friday for the weekend (SQUEEL!!!) and we had friends over that evening for a BBQ. It was vegan, with the exception of brats that folks brought over for themselves.

Brett even made homemade black bean burgers and they were phenomenal! I better get that recipe...

Some of our friends that came over are the Byrd family, who just had a baby, Jack, in December. Patton has never seen such a small human, and we were interested to see how they would interact.

Jack is just the cutest, happiest baby of life, and I love to hold/play with him! I always mess with Matt because I've never seen him hold a baby, but he swore to me he could do it. And he showed me Friday night that he is daddy material! One day (you can breathe now, Matt).

Patton just wanted to lick the heck out of Jack, which is what I expected. He was so intrigued by a little baby, and even tried to take one of Jack's toys, ha!

We spent Saturday hanging out around the house.  We watched "The Switch" with Jennifer Anniston and Jason Bateman, which was hilarious!  Later we took Patton on a walk and saw that so many flowers had started to bloom.  It was 74 degrees and absolutely beautiful.  When we made it back home, I saw that our little garden had started to welcome Spring. YAY!

I hope you all had a spectacular weekend as well!

Dinner at the Zimas

Last night we had dinner with our friends Brett and Shawn. Brett even cooked an all vegan meal! Risotto with veggies. Amazing :)





We have a lot in common with the Zimas, and it's great that we have good friends on this side of the pond.

We talk about our best friends Sarah and Minda a lot, and I like that we both know what the other is feeling since we both just moved here after BOLC.

After dinner we played Cranium and Scattegories, which was an absolute blast!

Well, I better get to bed. Tomorrow is a big day!

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Ciao, Bella!

So here are some pictures from our trip to Venice with the lovely Zima family. It is impossible for me to post all of the pictures, so I picked some faves. I have a feeling there will be more posts dedicated to these photos. Enjoy!

Brett and me in Murano

Matt and me (and my grandmother's ring) at St. Mark's Basilica

A view of San Marco from the tower

Shawn and Matt being boys

Matt and me

Brett and Shawn on the gondola

The Coles kissing under the Bridge of Sighs

Matt on the gondola

Matt's wife on the gondola

Venezia Preview

So there are plenty of pics to come, but here are a few because I'm just so darn excited!




In San Marco waiting to depart :( I know, our fedoras are adorable.



Matt's pizza. Yummmmmmm!



Eating gelato. Oh. My. God.



Drinking a Spritz, Venice's signature cocktail. I prefer red wine.



What we saw as we arrived. No, not a postcard. But it should be.


Leaving. Funny we're smiling because we wanna stay!

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