When I first arrived in Leipzig, Germany in 1996 it was dark and gray. All the buildings looked decrepit and run down.
There were very few restaurants and places to hang out. I had no idea how anyone
could live under such circumstances. I shared an apartment with my girlfriend,
which was an unrenovated, pre-war working-class place with two very small rooms.
It had a closet for a kitchen, coal heating, toilet in the stairwell and no
bathroom. After having lived in a house all my life, I felt very closed in, but
I was grateful that I had a chance to use coal for heating.
It seemed historic to me. Each room had its own heater, which was made out of tile and
stretched from floor to ceiling. Soon, I fell into a routine: First, I had to
clean the heater and remove the ashes, then I had to fetch the coal from the
basement Cheap Alonzo Gee Jersey , cut the wood, go outside and empty the ashes, light the kindling and wait till the coal was thoroughly burned that I could close the
door the door of the heater so it could finally warm the room. I had to do this
every 12 hours, or whenever I wanted to keep the apartment warm.
Life revolved around the heaters. The toilet in winter was another story; I would run
down the stairs, turn on an electric heater and close, run back up and wait 15
minutes before the I returned to use it. Once a week I would bathe at a friend's
house. This was all foreign to me. And I liked it too. By mid-winter the novelty
had worn off and I found that all I wanted was to turn a knob to have heat go
on, and a large warm bathroom so I could shower in my own place.
How many Americans lived like this, I thought. This created more questions like: What was
it like to live in the former GDR? Or in Nazi Germany? These were all easier to
understand and answer for me after moving here. Living history-and they were
still changing times, 6 years after the fall of the wall.
I made friends very easily. I think mainly because I was American and people were curious about
America and why I came. They were very eager to show me their lives, how they
lived and how they had lived. We had long discussions about how things were,
about the change from socialism to capitalism and what was good and bad about
it. I learned more about life in the former East Germany by talking and seeing
than from any book I had ever read.
There was also a little bit of a culture shock: I couldn't find a decent hamburger and there were no bagels. The
bread was dry and hard and everyone smeared butter on their sandwiches. What a
horrible combination: cheese with butter on a slice of Mischbrot - which is
bread made from a combination of black bread and white bread and is very dense.
In contrast, there was also this white toast bread which resembled American
bread, but was dry and tasteless.
This white toast bread was served with everything: Bockwurst with white toast bread Cheap Kendrick Perkins Jersey , bratwurst with white toast bread, toasted white toast bread with ham and pineapples, the list goes on.
So for an American, the idea of not being able to have a hamburger and a decent sandwich,
or bagel was appalling. I looked everywhere! - To make matters worse, there was
no coffee-to-go! I think I got coffee-to-go once then and it was served in a wax
cup with the wax floating on top. I really had to change my idea of life.
After almost seven years, I eventually got settled and used to the culture. I found bread I liked and the East German Doppelbrotchen which is a
type of bread roll are delicious-especially when smeared with butter. The
pastries were also pretty good. I got addicted to liverwurst and Doppelbrotchen,
although I still hate Mischbrot. I have my choice of where I get my coffee, and
bagels. The sandwiches are wonderful and served on wonderful hard chewy bread.
Now I worry that it is becoming too American ;-)Author's Resource Box
Jai Patel writes about German language and German culture.
Article Source:
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