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In Search of Jägerschnitzel

The thing about the German language, is that they love their consonants. All of them. And they don’t mind words with 4 or 5 in a row, and they do want you to use all of them. Occasionally in my German class, I would come across a word with somany sounds that I could only say the word very slowly. Too fast and I got tongue tied. It’s like the opposite of the Hawaiian language, all vowels. Have you noticed that certain consonants don’t exist? That why you get a fish named Humuhumunukunukuapua`a. After a while, I guess you get the hang of saying words with the back to back hard sounds like tscht.

When Will I and I left Prague, we actually went back to Germany. We went to Nürnberg and Frankfurt am Main. One thing we were excited about was staying in a hotel. We used my points to stay at a Hampton Inn, and even though Airbnbs are good for certain reasons, sometimes it’s nice to sleep on big hotel beds and have the few breakfast is in the morning. 

My husband had been to Germany before. He was stationed there, in the army. One of his main goals was to find himself a plate of jägerschnitzel. Schnitzel is pork that is pounded flat, breaded and fried. Jägerschitzel is that pork with mushroom gravy on it. It turned out to be very hard to find in cities farther from where he was stationed. The only mushroom gravy we found was a rahm or cream based gravy. But we tried. And we ate all of the pork. So much that when we left Nürnberg I was like, only salads for the next two days please. Ugh.


We also saw a lot of “old” buildings. I put old in quotes because what I learned in these Bavarian German cities is that most of the old building were partially or mostly destroyed by Allied bombing in WWII. So they were rebuilt it. Churches, houses, and even parts of castles.

Ex. View from the tower window of Nürnberg castle.

Picture of that view after WWII bombing.

So next time you day dream about old picturesque Bavaria, you might be day dreaming about something built in the 20th century.

We had fun in Germany. As usual, my favorite parts are times when I did almost nothing. Like when we found this sloped cobblestone covered corner of Nürnberg where everyone sat with their beer and dinner and picnicked. I sat with my coke and we people watched as the sun started to sink in the sky. 

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I Quit My Job and Ran Away

Isn’t that what every blog is telling you to do right now? It sounds fun right? Take off, leave responsibility behind. Live in Rome and be a digital nomad! 

So I did. Sort of.

I quit my job people. I was kind of planning this career change. It’s not actually a romantic fairytale. It’s a difficult decision mulled over 20 million times with lost sleep and just over 2 months of money saved up. Plus I am a nurse (jobs can be found). 

And I am in Europe. Alone for 2 weeks. I’m pretty sure this time last year I said to myself 1 week is about how long I want to be away from my husband. It’s been 10 days. I definitely miss him. We’ll meet up here in a few days.

In the Guest House

I’m staying in a guest house apartment. The building has 7 floors of rooms. Well, the seventh floor has just one apartment and a door to the roof. I am in that apartment. It’s nothing fancy, unless of course you compare it to the other rooms. The other floors share kitchens and bathrooms. 

I’ve been friendly with the other people here. They are all international students from Japan, Korea, Ghana, Iran, and more. We are all taking German classes. Some people are taking German and studying at a university. I met a few people who are getting their PhD. They need the German to teach. 

Today I went with three girls from Japan to eat Indian food and buy stamps. I don’t know Japanese and they don’t know English, so we talked in our ein bisshion German. We ordered all of our food in German. And I even asked for it to be scharf (spicy). The girls showed me where the Euro store was (like the dollar store). I bought a souvenir mug for my kid for €1 and razors, because I forgot to bring those. 

During our break from class, there is a guy who pulls up in a car and sells sandwiches to the students for €1,50 and up. It is pretty cheap. In the morning, I have coffee and a small breakfast and do my hausaufgabe (homework).

 It’s not quite like vacation. I have class until 1. I have to make food, do laundry, and buy groceries. But it’s an adventure because I can’t read all of the words. I don’t know the difference between rahmjogurt and fruchquark at the store, so I buy one of each and try it. I find new streets to walk down. New places to visit. 

I really like meeting new people. And I like practicing my German. Yesterday the German ticket sales person thought I was Italian. So I guess I don’t have an American accent. But I am really starting to miss my husband. I don’t think I could stay away from him longer than 2 weeks.

Tchuss!