Me in the Alps in Winter 2015

Me in the Alps in Winter 2015
Not Just Surviving, But Thriving!

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

It's The Little Things, Good and Bad...


A Relaxed Stance of Mutual Respect 

One thing I am really enjoying about southern Germany is their obvious deep love and respect for their canine companions. Dogs here are treated very much like a friend, more than anyplace I've ever been. They are often off leash; and almost always the leash is a harness rather than around their neck. Which makes sense, because who pulls a friend around by their neck?
    Usually their human partner strolls completely at the dog's pace. I've only ever seen a person pull on a leash once since I've been here, even teenagers out walking the family dog. They just don't do it. Their kindness towards their animal companions is quite touching. I love it, being in a place where everyone treats their animals like I do.
    And the dogs are completely uninterested in other people, they are totally focused on their own person and the other dogs they come across, which they run to and play with in an uncontrolled-by-humans way, and it's just no big deal. There is NO aggression. It's really kind of mind-blowing. 
    This is part of finding out that pretty much every stereotype I've ever had about Germans has been false. They are mainly kind, calm, quiet people who can be openly affectionate to their animals and children. Interesting. I've heard the odd one yell, but that was clearly the odd one.
    My own state of mind, although much calmer than before, varies wildly between 
1) completely overwhelmed and depressed (actually only about 1/20 of the time)
2) busy being enraptured with München-ish life (1/4 of the time)
3) completely challenged by everyday things like finding chili powder (impossible) or a doctor whose receptionist speaks English (difficult) or 1000 other things that we take for granted (all the rest of the time).
    My biggest achievement in the past few days is finding a certified German/English translator who will "translate" our marriage certificate which I had to order anew from Oregon because it had to be issued within the last 90 days and had to be "apostilled" and which I must present to the authorities by 4 December. All because I kept my last name.
    I believe we have decided to stay for now. This is a 180 degree change from about a month ago, when we were looking at packing it in. J is really enjoying his job now, and I've made friends. We are still in our small apartment in a not-so-great part of town, but it has its highlights.
    I'm recovering from a HUGE hit of gluten. I missed an ingredient while reading the tiny German print on a food can label and I cooked chili with cans of tomato sauce to which they had added SEITAN (pure gluten, pretty rare to find). I got so sick, for the first time in years, very depressing.
    So, I'm staying close to home and knitting alot and now I have time to work on my book. Silver lining.