Making Cookies in Germany

Making cookies in Germany! Oh what fun! Yesterday, Laura and I decided that we needed to make some good old American Chocolate Chip cookies for our host families. The cookie adventure started at the grocery store. We are constantly being told to blend in because Americans can be targets for terrorism. Well, I don't think we blended in very well standing in the grocery eisle with our German-English Dictionary trying to figure out what little package was baking soda. It turns out that the dictionary didn't help us, but the package that said something about baking, cleaning, and other household uses looked promising. We ended up getting that one and it was indeed baking soda. Yes!!!!! We were also not able to find chocolate chips, but the Germans have plenty of amazing Chocolate bars that can be cut up into small chunks for some pretty delectible cookies. Then back to Frau Roming's house. Our next task was to convert our recipe into mililiters, grams, and degrees centegrade. As we were working on the conversions, Frau Roming dug out some U.S. measuring cups that a previous student had brought. Whew! That task was just made a whole lot easier!

Now for the making of the cookies. Lisa, Erik, and Frau Roming were all eager to help. The fact that they all washed their hands by rinsing them under water made me feel a little uneasy, especially when Erik started stirring the cookie dough with his hands! However, I was soon able to forget about how gross it was and just enjoy the experience.

You should have seen it - five people all talking German and excitedly reaching in the bowl to taste the different stages of the dough and eating the chocolate as fast as I could cut it up. It was a blast! Frau Roming was hilarious. She kept saying how unhealthy the cookies were because she saw how much butter and sugar we put in them, but she kept eating the dough. Even when she said she had a somach ache she kept eating the freshly baked cookies.

While the cookies were baking we all played UNO. The Romings learned how to play UNO and Laura and I learned the German words for reverse, skip, draw three, and wild. Much fun was had by all. So, next time you make chocolate chip cookies, you should really talk German, eat lots and lots of cookie dough and chocolate chunks, and end the day happily - with a stomach ache maybe, but happily none-the-less.

Oh the Things I've Learned!

• It is entirely possible to take German for three and half years and still not understand a word of German when real Germans speak.
• At German parades, almost everyone on the floats is drinking beer.
• At German parades, they not only throw candy. They also cover the crowd in shredded paper, hand out liquor, and pass out sausage.
• Do NOT dry to hop on and off trains with lots of luggage unless you intend to provide much entertainment.
• If you want an abundance of dirty looks, use two paper towels to dry your hands in a public restroom.
• Since all of the doors are always shut, a closed bathroom door means nothing. If you don't want someone to barg in on you, lock the door! Yeah.
• Every time I turn around, it is time to eat again. Good thing I have a 30 minute bike ride to and from school every day.
• Aldis is not a place to buy bulk food, rather it is a specialty grocery store where all the wealthy Germans can buy small amounts of food for a high price.
• Germans don't pass food unless they absolutely can not reach what they want.
• It is perfectly acceptable to reach across the table, stab an olive with your fork, and eat it.
• It is not polite to put either of your hands under the table during a meal.
• Germans spend the entire meal with their fork in their left hand and their knife in their right hand.
• I get along really well with 18 mo. olds. They can't speak very much and neither can I. When adults talk to 18 mo. olds, I can actually understand what they are saying because they speak slowly and clearly an use simle words.
• I am learning to question everything that I did without thinking in America.
• In spite of a little culture shock, I love Wittenberg.
• MOST IMPORTANTLY, KINDNESS CAN EASILY BE COMMUNICATED WITHOUT SPOKEN LANGUAGE!