International Drivers License

So I have a license to drive around Germany, no big deal. But Matt wanted me to go get my international license so I could start sharing the driving experience with him when we take road trips.

How to get an Internationaler Führerschien in ten easy steps!

Step one: Get the right form. (Germans like their forms). This required me to go on base where the initial driving test and license were issued. Fairly straightforward.

Step two: Collect items needed: filled out form, German license, Texas license, govt. ID card, and passport photo. Check.

Step three: Decide when I'll have time to do this. I opted for yesterday morning, so I could drive with Matt to work, get it done, and drop the car back off.

Step four: Enter address into phone and hit navigate. I almost never drive around by myself, let alone somewhere I've never been before. Hope I don't get lost. 

Step five: Get lost. Only slightly. I almost made it with no wrong turns but the navigation just got a little ahead of itself. Sigh. When I get there it's obvious from the outside it's the DMV, it just has that "look."

Step six: Walk in and realize it's a lot nicer than an American version. I press a button on the orange kiosk and out pops my number: 18. They are on 12, which I don't think is all that bad.

Step seven: Optimism and nerve waivers as the ding from number 12 to 13 takes half an hour. Wait for over an HOUR before someone sees me. Reflect on my life decisions thus far as my stomach growls. Why didn't I bring a snack or delicious coffee beverage?

Step eight: Finally hear the ding of 18. Walk-run upstairs to room 106. Become alerted that my lovely passport photo, the one I actually like, cannot be used. I'm smiling, with my mouth open. Apparently this won't fly.

Step nine: Go back downstairs to pay for the license (15 Euro) and then stop at an automatic photo booth thing where I have to watch/read through six do's and don'ts for taking a correct photo, and pay 6 Euro. 

Step ten: Hate my picture. Regret my decision to only put on a little mascara and nothing else. Return upstairs with a scowl. Issued adorable tiny book:

Blargh. Finally.

*Bonus step eleven: Phone navigates totally different way for the drive back. I would have preferred the autobahn. Argh.

*Bonus step twelve: Reward self with a half liter of German Coca Cola because it has real sugar in it. Walk home slightly dejected, yet victorious.

Sorry, we're still being kinda boring

It's not that I don't want to write something incredibly clever and/or thought-provoking three times a week- I do.

But lately we've been leading a fairly boring existence filled with mundane errand-running, homework and paper writing, application developing, and binge Netflix watching. (Oh House of Cards, you saucy, saucy program!)

As a result, I might have what you would call writer's block. But only a little. I've been concentrating the bulk of my writing energies into completing my latest grad school paper, a 10-12 page assignment about diversity at Zappos, due on March 2nd. It's coming along nicely.

And cooking, still doing a lot of cooking. In fact, once I get this entry posted I'm going to play around in the kitchen and try out a recipe for Flemish Beef Stew. Matt once had it in Brussels and raved about it, so I'm hoping to recreate some of the magic.

Did I tell you I made falafel last week? Because I did...

It came out a little too crumbly for me, so I'll work on adding more moisture into it next time. Still really delicious though.

For Valentines Day, Matt not only got me flowers, but also made me a terribly delicious dinner of chicken parmesean, one of my favorite things.

Matt had his birthday, so I made him chicken enchiladas and baked a cake. Matt is very particular about his birthday cake - he likes yellow cake with chocolate frosting, but he prefers it to be of the round double-decker variety. Fine by me, except our oven is oh-so-very-small so I had to bake one cake half at a time. Silly German ovens.

Uh... what else? Since Matt was off on Monday, we went and washed the car. It's much shinier and nicer now. Here it is all toweled off after we also vacuumed out the inside.

 (This sign tells you not to wash the inside of your engine. Good idea.)

Seriously, that's it. I do have a good post coming up soon about my favorite travel things, so once that is ready to go, you can enjoy.

Obligatory lovey-dovey post

It's Valentines Day, so here are some cutesy pictures of Matt and I. We're looking forward to binge-watching House of Cards on Netflix tonight, enjoying a bottle of tasty French champagne.

It's always busy here.

You think winter is a time for relaxing, kicking back with hot chocolate or tea and catching up on Netflix?

Wrong! We don't even have any snow!

Just because we aren't traveling or actively preparing for trips doesn't mean anything. We are constantly juggling the preparation for those upcoming trips for the next several months, checking and double checking prices for plane, train, and hotel tickets, dreaming up fun things to do when people visit, and scheduling upcoming events around the region. Next up? Fastnacht, which is essentially a crazy Halloween-style Carnival, the largest one being right here in Mainz. Think dressing up in outlandish costumes, parades, drinking nonstop, all over multiple days.

All the planning is actually pretty stressful.

More importantly, we're also trying to work out. Because when we go do something fun, it almost always involves something incredibly delicious to eat and drink. And I don't know about you, but I can't eat everything I want and still have all my clothes fit.

Well... that's not totally true... they'll fit, but they won't fit well and I'll be uncomfortable. Thus, working out is the answer. I haven't made it to the gym in a long time though, mostly because I despise the gym. It's too boring for me. Instead, I signed up for a free trial of online classes and ordered a super cool workout DVD that my DC yoga instructor (and others) have raved about. That should get here soon. I don't know how they do it, but the bulk of Germans you see walking around are terribly fit. It boggles my mind.

Staying in shape is incredibly difficult when traveling but also just living here, as Germany produces half a bazillion kinds of bread, not to mention filling beers. Also, the potatoes are incredibly delicious. We try our best to just not buy the bread, but we certainly can't escape it if we're out to dinner. I was pleased to get my food processor/blender combo contraption a few weeks ago, though. So far I've made homemade hummus and next I'm going to try baked falafel. We've also experimented with a ground beef and mushroom combo for burgers to up our veggie intake. (The results have been surprisingly tasty).

It slices, it dices, it does it all.

 Hummus! Next time I'll use less lemon.

Oh - and I'm also doing all those "normal" everyday things like house work and homework. The dust bunnies are forming an army as I type. Unfortunately sometimes I have to spend more time doing homework depending on the assignment which leaves precious little time for anything else. I can only assume other people in my program who have full time jobs and tons of family obligations are either really fast readers or are doing really poor work. This degree is a full-time job.

On the plus side, our dinosaurs are keeping well-dressed thanks to new outfits sent to us:

Alright - back to the grind. Everyone enjoy watching gentle (or not-so-gentle) snowflakes fall in the U.S. We'll look out the windows here at the gray sky and dream...

Favorites interview with Matt and Kim

Just as a little retrospective, I asked Matt and recorded answers of my own for the following questions:

Favorite trip in the past year?
Matt: London
Kim: Lake Como! But the French honeymoon was good too.

Favorite German word or phrase?
Matt: Handschuhe (gloves)
Kim: Tschuss! ("Bye!")

Favorite Ritter Sport chocolate flavor?
Matt: self creation that we made in Berlin (milk chocolate with gingerbread, candied almond and something else.)
Kim: Pfefferminz (Peppermint - the absolute perfect balance of dark chocolate and peppermint)

Favorite country visited?
Matt: Italy
Kim: Still a sucker for Italy, but favorite new country would be France.

Favorite German food?
Matt: Gorgonzola schnitzel
Kim: Spundekas. Or schnitzel. Or sauerbraten. Mmm.

Before I got here, I wish I would have....
Matt: Spoken fluent German
Kim: Learned more German

Biggest accomplishment of 2013?
Matt: hanging up the lights in the apartment
Kim: wedding & speaking at the NALP Conference in Tampa

Favorite new food?
Matt: Truffles
Kim: Actually, I've developed a taste for Indian food now. But it will probably always be pizza.

Favorite beer?
Matt: Schneider-Weisse (German)
Kim: Bellevue Kriek (Belgium)

It's been a pretty mellow February so far. Matt and I have been resting up, working on homework and apps, making yummy dinners and hanging out with friends. I'm in charge of Matt's birthday dinner and cake at the end of the week, so I'll be thinking about those soon too.

Hope everyone in the U.S. is enjoying a real winter! Ours is super mild and gray and boring...

Hair today gone tomorrow.

Let me first start by saying that I have a hair person. Her name is Ashley. She works at O'Hair Salon & Spa in Gaithersburg, MD. I've been going to her since February 2007, so for the past seven years. When I find someone I like, I stay loyal. Even when I lived downtown in DC, I'd make the trek out there, early on Saturday mornings to beat the beltway traffic. The atmosphere was great and it was a no-tipping place, because tips were rolled into the service prices. As a result there was no need to look stingy or crazy when it came time to pay. How very European.

The last time I went to her was the end of June. I haven't been back since and it shows. When I got it cut and colored, it was right before my friend's wedding and featured a bit of red tint to it. I've been coloring my hair ever since I started going to O'Hair, so it's always been a little darker and richer than my natural color. In fact, the first time I colored it, I visited my grandmother who got up real close to me and said, "Good. Now your eyebrows match."

As if she had been thinking that my entire life. Hilarious.

Here's what it looked like on Saturday night. It was pretty ridiculous in length and faded in color. I have a lot of hair. Thanks, Mom.

Even though it's been cool that I can wrap my hair around in a bun with one hand, I needed two elastics to secure it because it was so heavy.

All this changed yesterday when I walked into Bloom's in Wiesbaden.

Bloom's is a chain, I imagine much like a Bubbles in the DC area. (I'm not totally sure, because, as we know, I've been a loyal customer at O'Hair). I did a lot of research before settling on this, my main requirements being 1) Someone spoke English so I could properly convey my fussy hair needs, 2) It wasn't way too expensive, and 3) It had good reviews.

I was incredibly anxious because I haven't had anyone else do anything to my hair in seven years. (With the exception of my wedding day when all I needed was a 'do). Would the setup be the same? What kind of products will they use? Will the color be right? Will they apply it correctly? Have they seen this much hair before? Ugh, so much angst.

Luckily, I was able to make an appointment online (neat!) and select my stylist, Corinna. I had checked around looking at reviews and discovered she spoke English and did a good job. Plus, she had some funky hair, and I tend to trust hairdressers who take risks with their own hair. The Wiesbaden location got better reviews than the one that's a 5 minute walk from my apartment, so I had to hop on a train across the river to get there, but it was still quicker than getting to Gaithersburg. When I got there, I said that I had an appointment with her, (in German) and the guy said, "Kim?" And I was like "Ja." So I was invited to her chair and we sat down and talked about what I wanted.

She was SO nice! I had brought a few pictures to show her, and she gave me her opinions, and then we brought out the color book. She told me that the colors were permanent, but we could make it less permanent by applying it wet. I've always done the demi-permanent so that as the color fades, any roots are not really noticeable (which is how I went for so long not doing anything for seven months).

The salon itself was really nice. There were elements that reminded me of O'Hair (sadly no massage chairs for shampooing though. Definitely missed that). I was brought some magazines too, and though they weren't English, who cares? Do you actually read the articles in fashion magazines or just oogle the pretty clothes?

Anyway. Poor Corinna. She really had her work cut out for her. There was SO MUCH hair to cut. At the end I blow dried it myself. (Apparently here they charge for finishing, or having the stylist dry your hair, to the tune of 4-19 Euro, but you can use their driers and any brushes to do it yourself. I decided to do it myself.)

By my estimation, I lost about 5-6 inches of hair. She also put in a bunch of shorter layers too, so my head feels a ton lighter. But don't worry - there is still plenty of hair left.

Here's what it looks like!!

Darker. Lighter. Stylish-er. Featuring far less split ends. The water here is incredibly hard, so when paired with heaters inside the house, it definitely gets damaged. I'll need to start applying extra conditioner from now on.

My head feels a lot better. All in all, it cost 79 Euro, including the cut, color, long hair charge, and deep conditioning treatment. With the exchange rate it ran just under $107, which is still less than what I was paying at O'Hair. Money well spent to save time drying and fighting with ultra-long hair.

I guess I really live here now, because I have a new hair person!

New Crockpot recipe

Sometimes our neighborhood grocery store is out of products - it's doesn't have the same stocking practices as some of the large chains in the U.S. so when it's out, you have to find an alternative for dinner. (It also keeps you coming back to the store on an almost daily basis, those sneaky people!)

Anyway, I was planning to do something chicken related for dinner and when I arrived at our Reve, it was completely out. As an alternate, I chose two packages of pork filets, already cut up and looking super pretty. I decided that I would simmer them in the crock pot in order to make some nice shredded pork for BBQ, a Mexican dish, or maybe as part of an Asian stir fry.

I'd heard about cooking with coke or even root beer, and decided to take it a step further and picked up a liter bottle of Mezzo Mix, which is a cola-orange soda hybrid that's pretty common in Germany. (For my U.S. readers, according to Wikipedia they have it at Wegmans in the international aisle if you are interested in checking it out. It's pretty tasty).

After bringing it home, I trimmed all the filets (which didn't take long, it was beautiful and lean), dumped half the bottle of Mezzo Mix in my lined crock pot and placed the filets on top, pressing down so they'd get all the liquid. I set the timer for 7 hours on low and headed back downstairs to the office for homework time. (Most recipes I have for the crock pot say 8 hours on low, but I'm convinced my crock pot cooks a little hotter, especially when it's on a transformer, plus the meat was cut up instead of one big hunk).

Here's what it looked like at the start:

A few hours later, the aroma was waifting downstairs. All I could identify was pork, since the soda only served to cook, not send sweet smells around the house.

Seven hours after starting, the timer went off so I checked it out. It was done. A little too done, but nothing a smothering of BBQ sauce wouldn't fix. Next time I'll set less time. Here's the meat all falling apart:

Good stuff. Finally, here's my plate after saucing, alongside some sauteed carrots seasoned with cinnamon chipotle. Matt enjoyed his portion with cut up red onions and a melted slice of cheese on top. There was enough leftovers for another two large portions - we ended up mixing it with taco sauce, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and making burritos. It was definitely a good decision.

Soda Pulled Pork
1/2 liter (or 16.9 oz bottle) of Mezzo Mix (or Coke, Dr. Pepper, or other soda)
About 2-2.5 pounds of pork filets

1. Add soda to lined crock pot
2. Add trimmed pork to crock pot and press down gently so liquid reaches all the slices
3. Set timer for 7 hours on low (if your crock pot runs hot like mine, check it earlier to avoid the drying out)
4. Take out of crock pot and shred with a fork; add liberal amounts of BBQ sauce
5. Serve as is or on toasty buns. Or adjust to make it Mexican.