Germany- The Beginning

Note: Hubby wrote this post.

Finally arrived in Germany after a long and very uncomfortable flight. The flight was 11hrs long from Japan to Amsterdam in which the seats were not big at all for an airbus. Our flight to Australia was roomy, but on this flight not only were the seats smaller they stuck us in the middle so I was literally stuck with my knees to the chair in front. So we then arrived at our final destination Stuttgart and were picked up by our amigo Efrain.

Germany is great and we are finally getting the winter we never had back home. We are staying in a town called Hofingen about 20 minutes from Stuttgart. Our first day we slept in due to jet-lag and hung around the house watching shows on MTV that we needed to catch up on. The day after we headed down town where we walked the shops and ate some food. That same night we ended up to a huge festival for the night. Plenty of drunken photos to come but let me just say DAMNNN!! The beer here is cheaper than water, and during festival time they up the alcohol level in the beers. Each beer is 1 liter in size and filled with pure German beer which equals a hell of time! We started out buying one beer each (there were a total of 6 of us there) and I was the first to pound the first complete beer. After we all ordered our second round we headed from the outside to inside under the tents where Efrain's boss was. You see with these festivals you must pre-order or reserve a table under the tent which is where the real party goes on. They stand and dance on the tables, live bands play and everyone is just on the same page of getting tanked. With our second beer almost gone at that point anyone you talk to begins to simply refill your cup for free. I believe I was able to put down 4 full mugs (1 liter each) of beer, which I guess since we have been drinking so much beer on this trip, I built the tolerance up. 7 Hours later we went back to the train station to get back to Hofingen for the night. The trains are very convenient seeing that everyone was tanked and could not drive. It seemed like everyone going back home was tanked. We had a hell of a night.

Note: Wifey finishing the post because hubby is tired...lol

Today we went to Efrain's sons baseball game and then to a barbeque at their friend's house. Funny thing is that the wife only spoke spanish and german and the husband only spoke German and English. The whole night we were all conversating in the three languages since we along with our friend don't know how to speak German. The German hospitality proved to be one of a kind. They made sure we had plenty of beer and food. We started off eating the traditional Bratwurst with potatoes and bread. Then we ate plenty of meat along with more potatoes. The hosts were feeding us all night and we ended the night drinking some Champagne and eating chips and cheese dip. Conversation was funny as hell even though we had the three languages going on there. Needless to say we had another great night and Germany is proving to be a place we really love.

Some things to note:

1. Danke= Thank you
2. Kramer is a popular German last name and we are seeing it everywhere....too funny.
3. Almost everyone we have come in contact with can speak enough English to understand us.
4. The street lights go from red to yellow to green instead of just red to green like back in the States.
5. Here in Germany as a male you are required to go to the Army for at least 9 months.
6. Work hours are 35 hrs a week and you get 30 days of vacation.
7. In some towns the government pays you automatically about 400 euros for nothing and provides you with an apartment. We were told it is to not have poor people on the streets.
8. They have plenty of beer gardens here (like pubs back home) where you drink plenty of German beers and get the best schnitzel and bratwurst around.

DANKE!