On novelty--

We've been here over a month now and I thought I'd better look back and remind myself what is unusual here. I've learned from my travels that you should buy your souvenirs the first few days of arriving to a new country because by the time you leave you've become accustom to the culture and what surprised and delighted when you first arrived has become common and ordinary by the time you leave. Only when you get back do you think, "Shoot, I should of bought one of those." That's when you recognize how unique some of those things were.

So first, our apartment. Water isn't heated in a big tank and stored, it is heated in a thing called a 'Therme' which heats the water on demand as it goes through the pipes. It clicks on when you turn the water on. I haven't noticed any more delay at when the hot water arrives compared to the American system and you never run out of hot water when the whole gang has to shower in a row like right before church. When I think about how well this works I wonder, 'Why do we heat so much water at a time?' Refrigerators are small (hence Lori's complaints about shopping everyday).

Many of the streets are of cobblestone. The cars are mostly very small. They pay $4.50 for a gallon of gas. We pay $1.70 for a liter of milk (about a fourth of a gallon). Otherwise, prices are comparable to the US. People dress very neatly and seem generally to care more about their appearance than in the States. I never see people wearing sweats or exercise clothes (well, except when they are exercising). Except rarely people do not wear running shoes except to run. Hair is short but well styled. Hair dressing salons are everywhere. Even in the lobby of the UN! Women of all ages sometimes die their hair Run-Lola-Run red (one of the best German movies ever made). Coffee houses, restaurants, and gasthouses (pubs) are everywhere. Toilets are made so you don't poop into water, but on a little porcelain shelf over which the water runs to take it down the hole (now isn't that something worth knowing!). Our Toilet is in a room of its own and not in the room with the washing basin sinks, mirrors, and showers for dressing (there is a little sink with only cold water for washing your hands in the toilet room). Pedestrians mostly wait for the light to change. People buy lots of things at Ikea. People wear a lot of fur, I think much of it real. People of all ages hold hands with their significant other and sometime the young kiss wildly in public. No one is surprised if you order chocolate at a coffee house and lots of people do. Vegetarianism is rarer than in the US. Nathan gets asked for cigarettes in the U-bahn stations every time he goes to seminary. He doesn't have any. I told him to carry some to give away. He refused.

One challenge we've had is remembering that Euros are not dollars. The dollar has fallen so low, that dollars are like pesos were a few years ago, well not that bad but they've lost about 33% of their value from when the Euro opened a few years ago. The tricky thing is goods and services cost here in euros about the same as they cost in dollars in the states so it's easy to forget. We'll see a meal for 10 euros and think its a good deal until we remember it's really 15 bucks for that meal. Euros are the currency used over most of Western Europe (with a few holdouts like Denmark and England) and is currently a very strong stable currency. In fact with the fall of the dollar, some states that used to base their economies on the dollar are switching to the euro. In the eyes of many in the world, America has lost respect not only morally, but economically.

But Europeans follow very closely American politics. At lunch all the people I work with (none Americans) speak more knowledgeably about the presidential elections than most Americans. I often learn the results of the primaries from them. They follow the presidential races very closely and can speak about the different candidates' platforms and history in depth and with great insight. They all seem much smarter than me. I don't know any of my co-workers that do not speak from three to six languages (I need to keep in mind, of course, I am at the UN). They speak about history with ease and familiarity. I don't want to generalize but even on the U-bahn in the morning lots of people are reading the paper. In fact yesterday a rough looking teenager sat across from me. He was covered with piercings (nose and eyebrow rings and such). Suddenly he pulled out the paper and started reading. I shouldn't have been surprised (but obviously I was). The events of the world seem somehow closer here than they did in America. I don't know if that makes sense, but the internationality of the place seems to bring world concerns to the front.

But America still rules here. American music, movies, TV, books, all of these things are still held in the highest esteem and dominate. To some extent fashion, but less so. English is the language of both Science and Business and American leadership in both still plays in the Major leagues here. English is a mandatory second language. In short, American interests still seem to be on everyone's mind. If only the dollar was not slipping into obivion (I mean, holy cow, the Canadian doller is worth more than the American and that has never happened in the history of the world--'ey.)

Well, those are some of things I can think of sitting here. Oh yes, I'm getting fat on the pastries. They are of such a tempting nature that only the devil himself could have designed these delights. I cannot resist. What wine is to France and beer is to Germany pastries are to Austria. Heaven help me.