You Know you Live in Germany When…. #2

You know you live in Germany when you go to the grocery store and come out with a tree and boxes of milk that go on your shelf.

Yes, a tree. Rachel and I bought a tree yesterday at PennyMarkt (it’s a lot like Aldi).

Tree from grocery store

We now own a tree! It’s very small, but exciting! Grocery stores here sell random items that change each week – anything from flash drives to clothing to table cloths to plants to ski equipment.

Now to explain the milk.

H-Reduced fat Milk

Milk comes in liter boxes, not gallons jugs. This particular type of milk is made to last a long time on a shelf without needing to be refrigerated. This is very good, because refrigerators here are much smaller, so we do not have room to keep 3 liters of milk in the fridge. We would have to buy milk 3 times a week if we couldn’t keep it on the shelf! I don’t want to know what kind of preservatives they have to put in the milk to make it last, though. Milk also comes in .3% fat, 1.5%, and whole milk.

We go through a lot of milk because of the amazing cereals here (Knusper Muesli – like big crispy granola, Nougat bits – basically nutella inside a cereal, Snow Flakes – basically Frosted Flakes, Wellness Flakes Knusper – crispy hazelnut flavored flakes). When we want to drink something, however, we prefer to savor the refreshing snap of Apfelschorle.

Carbonated Apple Juice

You may be wondering – what is so great about carbonated apple juice? Well, to me it tastes like biting into a crisp apple, but with all the refreshing goodness of a cool drink of water.

Rachel and I have also discovered a favorite German snack: Fire Dragons!

Feuer Drachen (Fire Dragons)

Don’t be fooled by the “Hot and Spicy” label on the bag. For one who has a penchant for Blazin’ wings at BWW, this is very tame. Most German food is really not spicy at all. Compared to the good Mexican food in West Chicago, this is bland. Tasty, but not spicy. Feuer Drachens’ roar is worse than their flame, but they still taste really good. They are so much fun to eat – each crisp is in the shape of a  little dragon!

Grocery shopping is always an adventure – we never know what goodies (or hoodies) will be nestled among the Wurstchen and soup mixes!