an american expat in deutschland http://www.amiexpat.com life, the universe, and Germany Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:45:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc en hourly 1 49.065768611.888580amiexpat/xeSGhttp://feedburner.google.com Back to Deutschland http://www.amiexpat.com/2010/02/01/back-to-deutschland/ http://www.amiexpat.com/2010/02/01/back-to-deutschland/#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:44:25 +0000 Christina Geyer http://www.amiexpat.com/?p=2136 After a long, arduous odyssey, Oliver and I have made it back to Germany.  Our flight boarding was delayed in Washington an hour, then we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours waiting to get deiced because of the snowstorm.  We missed our connection in Amsterdam and had to wait 6 hours for the next [...] After a long, arduous odyssey, Oliver and I have made it back to Germany.  Our flight boarding was delayed in Washington an hour, then we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours waiting to get deiced because of the snowstorm.  We missed our connection in Amsterdam and had to wait 6 hours for the next flight.  However, unlike Iberia, KLM took very good care of us, giving food certificates, phone cards, and money off our next booking through KLM and it’s partners. Plus, they drove Oliver and I everywhere we needed on one of those little carts you see tooling around the airport.  Oliver thought this was awesome.

Today, I feel bad.  I feel really bad.  Everything hurts.  My back, legs, arms, wrists, neck, everything.  And I was already feeling homesick driving back from the airport.  I’m going to miss having my family around to help out.  That’s probably the worst part of being an expat.  When you really need your family, they are far, far away.

In my absence from the blogging world, someone has nominated me for the Lexiophiles IX10 Top 100 International Exchange and Experience Blogs.  Thank you whoever did that!  The voting runs from February 1 through 14, so go vote for me!  (I think I’m around number 12 or 13 on the list).

IX10 - Vote for this Blog

I managed to take a few photos during my trip with my awesome new camera (thanks family!!!).  I’ll post the best as soon as I manage to get them off the camera and uploaded.  But that’s not going to be right now because I’m going back to bed.  Later folks!

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]]> http://www.amiexpat.com/2010/02/01/back-to-deutschland/feed/ 7 The Year in Review: 2009 Highlights http://www.amiexpat.com/2010/01/10/the-year-in-review-2009-highlights/ http://www.amiexpat.com/2010/01/10/the-year-in-review-2009-highlights/#comments Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:51:10 +0000 Christina Geyer http://www.amiexpat.com/?p=2134 It’s a new year, and so far I haven’t thrown up! I’m still weak and suffering from nausea, but I’m keeping food down and gaining weight. I spent a couple hours at the mall on Wednesday, thoroughly enjoying a Ben & Jerry’s milkshake while Oliver played on the indoor playground and went on [...] It’s a new year, and so far I haven’t thrown up! I’m still weak and suffering from nausea, but I’m keeping food down and gaining weight. I spent a couple hours at the mall on Wednesday, thoroughly enjoying a Ben & Jerry’s milkshake while Oliver played on the indoor playground and went on the carousel in the food court. I’m still recovering from that outing, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be up to going out again tomorrow. Better news: I’ve been feeling the baby move since January 1, and that very much helps to lift my spirits.

Now on to the review. Here’s what happened on the blog in 2009:

  • I continued my mostly weekly posting (except for recently due to illness and lack of camera) of my favorite photos of the week, Weekly Winners.
  • I made my two favorite recipes so far in the Real German Cuisine Challenge, Kalbshaxn (Veal knuckle) and Harzer Lamb in Buttermilk.  They’re both semi-expensive cuts of meat, but so worth it.  I had wanted to make one of these two for my family for Christmas dinner (I’d just see which cut of meat was easier to obtain), but unfortunately didn’t have the energy for this.
  • For my 7th anniversary of living in Germany, I wrote about how my expat journey began, discussing how tough it was for me to adjust to life here.

Here’s hoping 2010 is as eventful!

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]]> http://www.amiexpat.com/2010/01/10/the-year-in-review-2009-highlights/feed/ 10 Coming Home http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/12/31/coming-home/ http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/12/31/coming-home/#comments Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:12:51 +0000 Christina Geyer http://www.amiexpat.com/?p=2129 Returning to the US has been a little different this time around.  Because of my illness (hyperemesis gravidarum), I was incredibly homesick, something I haven’t been since moving to the Regensburg area three years ago.  Despite the doctors in the hospital thinking I should stay longer, I needed to come home (my ob/gyn agreed to [...] Returning to the US has been a little different this time around.  Because of my illness (hyperemesis gravidarum), I was incredibly homesick, something I haven’t been since moving to the Regensburg area three years ago.  Despite the doctors in the hospital thinking I should stay longer, I needed to come home (my ob/gyn agreed to the trip, and so did the doctors in the hospital after I told them my feelings on it).  If you want to read more about my experience with excessive nausea in pregnancy, you can read about it in my latest post on Mamas Worldwide.

The first thing I noticed upon emerging into the open air at Washington Dulles, was the large number of humongous SUVs filling the parking lot (an SUV is what Germans refer to as Jeeps).  I guess I’d thought things would be different now that SUVs were “out” and being green was “in”, but they were everywhere and they were even bigger than I remembered.  But in the half month since I got here, well, in the two times I’ve managed to leave the house since arriving, I didn’t have the same feeling.  The roads are full of mid-size cars.  Thinking about it, it makes sense.  My family has 6 sedans and 1 SUV for transporting food and equipment for my mom’s restaurant.  What did they pick us up from the airport with?  The SUV, so they could fit all our luggage in.

It’s also incredible the amount of prescription drug commercials TV viewers here are subjected to in a day.  As someone who worked in the pharmaceutical industry, you might think I’d be happy about drug companies trying to increase their profits, but it’s the opposite.  These commercials promote unnecessary drug use and hypochondria in my opinion, and I completely disagree with letting drug companies advertise.  I always had problems with the marketing departments of pharmaceutical companies.  I see that research and development is expensive (that’s the area I worked in), but I feel that drugs should not be marketed so aggressively.  For me, there is a point where morality outweighs profits.

I’m not feeling much better, although I’m keeping more food down and have managed to gain back 8 of the 20 pounds I lost in the first trimester.  I haven’t been out much, just visiting the supermarket on Christmas Eve and Target yesterday.  I’ve canceled my New Years trip to New York, which I was really looking forward to.  I was hoping to feel better already, but I guess posting will still be rare in the next few weeks.

Good news, I got a Nikon D5000 for Christmas and hope to be back to posting Weekly Winners as soon as I can.  Unfortunately, HG makes working on the computer difficult.  It’s hard to look at a computer screen for too long, I get nauseous.

Happy New Year!  Hopefully 2010 will be a good year all around.

Oliver, Christmas 2009

Ollie in my first photo with my new camera

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]]> http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/12/31/coming-home/feed/ 10 The little project that’s been working on me http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/12/15/the-little-project-thats-been-working-on-me/ http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/12/15/the-little-project-thats-been-working-on-me/#comments Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:06:12 +0000 Christina Geyer http://www.amiexpat.com/?p=2126 Just a small announcement… Yep, that’s right, I’m 14 weeks pregnant.  This is the little troublemaker that has been keeping me from blogging as of late. I wanted to make it through the first trimester before saying anything.  The illness I’ve been suffering from is hyperemesis gravidarum, a.k.a. excessive nausea and vomiting in pregnancy.  The baby is perfectly fine [...] Just a small announcement…

ultrasound

Yep, that’s right, I’m 14 weeks pregnant.  This is the little troublemaker that has been keeping me from blogging as of late.

I wanted to make it through the first trimester before saying anything.  The illness I’ve been suffering from is hyperemesis gravidarum, a.k.a. excessive nausea and vomiting in pregnancy.  The baby is perfectly fine and healthy, but I’m very weak and about 20 pounds under where I should be at this point.

I’ve been in the hospital since Friday.  I just got discharged this morning so that I can fly home to see my family for Christmas tomorrow.  Tomorrow is going to be tough, but it’ll be nice to be surrounded by family.

My symptoms should ease up sometime between now and the 20th week.  I’m hoping for sooner rather than later.  Once I’m feeling better, I hope to get back to regular blogging.  Till then, I’ll post when I can.

Happy Holidays everyone!

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]]> http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/12/15/the-little-project-thats-been-working-on-me/feed/ 29 Blogging Hiatus http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/11/24/blogging-hiatus/ http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/11/24/blogging-hiatus/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:46:01 +0000 Christina Geyer http://www.amiexpat.com/?p=2123 I wasn’t able to complete this week’s Real German Cuisine Challenge, Mussel Salad, so I owe you guys that post sometime in the future.  Unfortunately, it probably won’t be in the near future.  I have to cancel the Challenge for the rest of this year at least, so also no Stollen making, but the recipe [...] I wasn’t able to complete this week’s Real German Cuisine Challenge, Mussel Salad, so I owe you guys that post sometime in the future.  Unfortunately, it probably won’t be in the near future.  I have to cancel the Challenge for the rest of this year at least, so also no Stollen making, but the recipe is up if you want to make it (I’ll link to your post if you write it up).

I haven’t been doing too well recently, in fact, basically the only reason I’ve left the house in the last month has been to visit a doctor.  It sucks being housebound, it sucks even more being pretty much bed- or sofa-bound, while having to watch a toddler, but my neighbors have been really good about helping out, knowing that we don’t have family nearby.  At least I have the internet, I can’t imagine how people stuck at home ill got along pre-internet.  It’s still very lonely and socially isolating with that outlet.

I’ll try to post when I can, but it will probably be infrequently.  But hopefully I’ll be back in blogging form and ready to continue with more Real German Cuisine Challenges in January.  Till then, enjoy your holidays and Happy Thanksgiving.

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]]> http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/11/24/blogging-hiatus/feed/ 22 Real German Cuisine Challenge: Zwiebelmarktkuchen (Weimar Onion Festival Cake) http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/11/16/real-german-cuisine-challenge-zwiebelmarktkuchen-weimar-onion-festival-cake/ http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/11/16/real-german-cuisine-challenge-zwiebelmarktkuchen-weimar-onion-festival-cake/#comments Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:24:48 +0000 Christina Geyer http://www.amiexpat.com/?p=2119 This week’s recipe Zwiebelmarktkuchen (Onion Festival Cake) is a specialty from Weimar in the German state of Thüringen.  The Weimar Onion Festival, or Zweibelmarkt, takes place in October and has been going on for 365 years.  This dish is a specialty of the festival. The dish reminded me somewhat of Flammkuchen, except with more onions and a less rich [...] This week’s recipe Zwiebelmarktkuchen (Onion Festival Cake) is a specialty from Weimar in the German state of Thüringen.  The Weimar Onion Festival, or Zweibelmarkt, takes place in October and has been going on for 365 years.  This dish is a specialty of the festival.

The dish reminded me somewhat of Flammkuchen, except with more onions and a less rich sauce.  Rainer tells me that onion cake that he’s familiar with is smaller and thicker.

It ends up I was not quite fully recovered enough to make this recipe.  After sticking it in the oven, I promptly laid down and took a two hour nap.  Kneading and rolling out dough takes a lot out of you!  (I found the dough pretty difficult to roll out, and it didn’t really make it up the sides of the pan).

I’m not the biggest fan of big piles of onions, but I’ll admit it was tasty.  Rainer loved it.

Unfortunately, my camera has died, so I had to take a picture of the dish with my webcam.  Maybe this means I’ll be getting a DSLR for Christmas?  Rainer says he has so many more things higher on his priority list than buying me a DSLR, but I need to take photos for the blog somehow, right? *wink, wink*

Zwiebelmarktkuchen (Weimar Onion Festival Cake)

Other participants:

Upcoming challenges!

Feel free to join in anytime. Want more Real German Cuisine? Check out the full recipe list organized by German state.

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]]> http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/11/16/real-german-cuisine-challenge-zwiebelmarktkuchen-weimar-onion-festival-cake/feed/ 6 Down for the count http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/11/06/down-for-the-count/ http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/11/06/down-for-the-count/#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:45:38 +0000 Christina Geyer http://www.amiexpat.com/?p=2117 That’s what I’ve been for the past week. The worst cold ever became bronchitis, and now that I’m on antibiotics, I think there was just a touch of sinus infection in there too. I finish antibiotics tomorrow evening and will hopefully make a speedy full recovery back to health, because this is now [...] That’s what I’ve been for the past week. The worst cold ever became bronchitis, and now that I’m on antibiotics, I think there was just a touch of sinus infection in there too. I finish antibiotics tomorrow evening and will hopefully make a speedy full recovery back to health, because this is now three weeks of feeling pretty rotten and let me tell you, it sucks. So, I have not, nor will I any time this weekend, be up to baking Zweibelkuchen (onion cake). I’m going to have to push the Real German Cuisine Challenge back a week (at least, hopefully not more!).

Plus, a couple of people have asked my opinion about the swine flu vaccine… I plan to write something eventually, but short answer: vaccines are good, get them.  My doctor has me on a list to call for when it becomes available (and when I am healthy enough to get it).  The last thing I want is a bout of swine flu after this!

Stay healthy folks!

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]]> http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/11/06/down-for-the-count/feed/ 15 Real German Cuisine Challenge: Märkischer Rindfleischtopf (Mark Brandenburg Beef Stew) http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/11/02/real-german-cuisine-challenge-markischer-rindfleischtopf-mark-brandenburg-beef-stew/ http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/11/02/real-german-cuisine-challenge-markischer-rindfleischtopf-mark-brandenburg-beef-stew/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:53:27 +0000 Christina Geyer http://www.amiexpat.com/?p=2114 This week’s recipe challenge was Märkischer Rindfleischtopf (Mark Brandenburg Beef Stew).  The Mark Brandenburg is the area including and surrounding the city of Berlin.  I wasn’t too impressed with the local cuisine when we lived in Berlin and in Potsdam, but the recipes from this book for that region have been pretty good. This is the first week where [...] This week’s recipe challenge was Märkischer Rindfleischtopf (Mark Brandenburg Beef Stew).  The Mark Brandenburg is the area including and surrounding the city of Berlin.  I wasn’t too impressed with the local cuisine when we lived in Berlin and in Potsdam, but the recipes from this book for that region have been pretty good.

This is the first week where I actually had very little to do with the challenge.  We bought the meat last Saturday to make the next day, and I ended up coming down with a really bad cold.  Since we bought beef filet to use, and didn’t want it to go to waste, Rainer did most of the work and I read instructions to him from the kitchen table, where I was also frequently resting my head.

We didn’t have Teltower Rübchen (turnips).  I planted some seeds back in August, but the plants are only about 3 inches high.  I read that Bavarian Rübchen are almost identical, so I had hoped to find some of those to use, but there weren’t any in the local markets.  We decided to use Kohlrabi and carrots as a substitute.

I ended up eating very little.  I had a small scoop of vegetables and one slice of filet, but Rainer loved this dish.  He proclaimed it one of his favorites so far and said he was really surprised that the filet went so well in it.  He hadn’t had high expectations, but in the end, he says, “It was beef filet and a lot of butter.  Look at the picture, it’s butter, butter, butter, butter.  How can you go wrong with that?”

Märkischer Rindfleischtopf (Mark Brandenburg Beef Stew)

Other participants:

Upcoming challenges!

Write up

  • November 9 - Zwiebelmarktkuchen (Weimar Onion Festival Cake)
  • November 16 - Muschelsalat (Mussel salad)
  • Sächsischer Weihnachtsstollen (Saxon Christmas Stollen) - To be made the week of Thanksgiving and publish either right before or after Christmas (Dec 21 or 28).  Let me know if you have a preference.

Feel free to join in anytime. Want more Real German Cuisine? Check out the full recipe list organized by German state.

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]]> http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/11/02/real-german-cuisine-challenge-markischer-rindfleischtopf-mark-brandenburg-beef-stew/feed/ 6 Real German Cuisine Challenge: Miesmuscheln in Weisswein (Mussels in white wine) http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/10/31/real-german-cuisine-challenge-miesmuscheln-in-weisswein-mussels-in-white-wine/ http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/10/31/real-german-cuisine-challenge-miesmuscheln-in-weisswein-mussels-in-white-wine/#comments Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:28:36 +0000 Christina Geyer http://www.amiexpat.com/?p=2111 Sorry about the delay in posting this week.  I got hit with a horrible cold.  I’m not completely well yet, but hopefully there are only a few more days of cold to deal with. This week’s recipe was Miesmuscheln in Weisswein (Mussels in white wine).  We enjoy mussels, but have never made them ourselves.  I got a friend [...] Sorry about the delay in posting this week.  I got hit with a horrible cold.  I’m not completely well yet, but hopefully there are only a few more days of cold to deal with.

This week’s recipe was Miesmuscheln in Weisswein (Mussels in white wine).  We enjoy mussels, but have never made them ourselves.  I got a friend to take me to Metro, one of the few places in Regensburg where you can buy mussels, although they are also available at the fish stand in the brand new Markthalle on Dachauplatz.

We washed them and tore away the fibers.  We were a little confused when it came to sorting.  Rainer thought the open ones were bad, I thought the open ones were still alive, since after a few minutes, some of the closed ones we sorted out were open.  I used a lifeline to call a friend and she said to just cook them all and sort out the unopened ones afterwards.

The sauce is easy to make and delicious.  Apart from obtaining and scrubbing the mussels, this is a really easy dish.

I bought Schwarzbrot (rye bread) to serve with the mussels, but I wasn’t a fan of this.  Rainer said I neglected to get Kölsch (small beers from Cologne) and everyone knows mussels go with Schwarzbrot AND Kölsch.  Well, apparently not everyone.  I threw some frozen fries in the oven and we ate the mussels with those.  It was a nice meal and I’d do it again.

Miesmuscheln in Weisswein (Mussels in white wine)

Other participants:

Upcoming challenges!

Feel free to join in anytime. Want more Real German Cuisine? Check out the full recipe list organized by German state.

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]]> http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/10/31/real-german-cuisine-challenge-miesmuscheln-in-weisswein-mussels-in-white-wine/feed/ 3 Back in the world of the living http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/10/29/back-in-the-world-of-the-living/ http://www.amiexpat.com/2009/10/29/back-in-the-world-of-the-living/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:34:51 +0000 Christina Geyer http://www.amiexpat.com/?p=2109 I’m slowly on the mend after spending the last four days for the most part in a horizontal orientation.  I’m pretty sure it wasn’t swine flu, since I didn’t get a fever, but this has definitely been the worst cold I’ve had in my life (it’s severity was compounded by other factors, like having a [...] I’m slowly on the mend after spending the last four days for the most part in a horizontal orientation.  I’m pretty sure it wasn’t swine flu, since I didn’t get a fever, but this has definitely been the worst cold I’ve had in my life (it’s severity was compounded by other factors, like having a toddler to care for, for one — it also coincided with one of my worst migraines in years the other night, so that was fun).  Anyways, I’m going to get back to blogging life, but probably not until the weekend.  In case you are really dying to know how the last cooking challenge turned out, check out Stephanie’s version over on A Greenville Life.  Mine was pretty similar.

If you’re lacking in reading material, I’d like to suggest you head over to Dave’s Photo & Travelblogue.  He’s a fellow American expat, based in Munich, who I’ve known for a year or so.  Coincidentally, we both are from Virginia and are both APO brothers.  He’s about to publish his first book, so congrats on that, Dave!

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