Here in Germany when a car gets registered the licence plate number starts out with the city you get registered in. For example it your car is registered in Giessen the licence plate number starts with GI. If you register in Berlin it starts with a B. Wiesbaden, WI.
So if you see a car on the road you know where the person is from (if you know what the letters stand for).
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Grocery Store Part I
I thought I would tell you about the grocery stores here and how they might be a little different than they are back home.
When you go to the grocery store here and you want a shopping cart you cant just take one, you have to put a .50€ coin or a 1€ coin in the coin slot of the cart. Each cart is attatched to each other by a chain and to separate them you need the coins. Or you can use a little plastic piece that is in the shape of a coin. We got lucky and found one of those right away so we have been using htat every time we need a cart.
In the store, things are pretty much similar.
In the produce department, they have a lot of different kinds of cabbage, kinds that we dont have in the states. Not sure in the states, but here you can get a big bag of potatoes for really cheap.
Here peanut butter isnt a very big thing, they only have one or two types of peanut butter. Hazelnut spread, nuttela is a lot more popular over here.
The cereal aisle of the grocery store is much smaller than the ones back home. Here they only have a couple boxes of cereal rather than the 100's we have back home.
Here they have many different types of pickles.
When you go the meat department in the meat case they have a lot wursts (like sausages). Some are quite different than what we have back home. Some look like they have random things in them, but they are quite popular. Here they dont really have the deli meat like back home. Well, they have it but to buy roast beef for sandwiches is €3.99 for 100 grams. So if you want a kilo of it (2.2 pounds) it will cost you €39.90. Or $50. Kind of expensive. Needless to say Katy and I dont do the deli meats for our sandwiches at lunch. We buy small chickens, the frozen ones - cook them up and use that meat for our sandwiches. Very good!
Eggs - Here eggs come in 10 packs, instead of 12 packs and you dont have a selection of Jumbo, extra large, large, medium...in your pack you could get any size and Katy and I usually try to look for the bigger ones. Here the eggs are not kept in the cooler or refrigerator, rather just in an aisle at room temperature. They are also not all the same color. Sometimes you will get brown eggs and sometimes you will get white eggs.
When you go to the grocery store here and you want a shopping cart you cant just take one, you have to put a .50€ coin or a 1€ coin in the coin slot of the cart. Each cart is attatched to each other by a chain and to separate them you need the coins. Or you can use a little plastic piece that is in the shape of a coin. We got lucky and found one of those right away so we have been using htat every time we need a cart.
In the store, things are pretty much similar.
In the produce department, they have a lot of different kinds of cabbage, kinds that we dont have in the states. Not sure in the states, but here you can get a big bag of potatoes for really cheap.
Here peanut butter isnt a very big thing, they only have one or two types of peanut butter. Hazelnut spread, nuttela is a lot more popular over here.
The cereal aisle of the grocery store is much smaller than the ones back home. Here they only have a couple boxes of cereal rather than the 100's we have back home.
Here they have many different types of pickles.
When you go the meat department in the meat case they have a lot wursts (like sausages). Some are quite different than what we have back home. Some look like they have random things in them, but they are quite popular. Here they dont really have the deli meat like back home. Well, they have it but to buy roast beef for sandwiches is €3.99 for 100 grams. So if you want a kilo of it (2.2 pounds) it will cost you €39.90. Or $50. Kind of expensive. Needless to say Katy and I dont do the deli meats for our sandwiches at lunch. We buy small chickens, the frozen ones - cook them up and use that meat for our sandwiches. Very good!
Eggs - Here eggs come in 10 packs, instead of 12 packs and you dont have a selection of Jumbo, extra large, large, medium...in your pack you could get any size and Katy and I usually try to look for the bigger ones. Here the eggs are not kept in the cooler or refrigerator, rather just in an aisle at room temperature. They are also not all the same color. Sometimes you will get brown eggs and sometimes you will get white eggs.
Some more on driving
Okay so I thought of some more things on how driving is different here.
They have the autobahn which I have already mentioned where, as you know, you can drive as fast as you want to. Well the 4-lane roads aren't the only roads that you can drive without a speed limit. Here they have 2 lane roads through the country (back home those raods would be the ones that are 55 mph). Here these roads have no speed limits. Sure they have deer and animals you have be careful of but not to the extent like we do in WI.
Another thing - Here in Giessen the stop lights seem to have no ryhme or rythm to when the switch. Sometimes it doesnt even make sense. For example at one of the intersections here- a 3-way stop- you can either make a left turn or go straight. The left turn arrow will be green but you cant go straight, the straight lane has a red light. There are many other intersections where you just wonder what is going on. Also I dont think they have sensors on some of the lights, especially at night. Regardless of when you arrive you have to wait for lights to go through their cycle and get around to your turn. Someone here told us that in a survey that Giessen was found 499 out of 500 for efficiency of traffic signals in European cities.
Another thing - when you are driving here and you go on an on-ramp to get onto the Autobahn, if there is a truck coming in the lane you are pulling into, it will not get over no matter how close you get to it, even if there isnt a car in the other lane. I dont know if it is a law, or maybe just because it is the autobahn and cars can come real fast out of nowhere, but its hard maybe even a little worry-some when you try to go from an on-ramp to the Autobahn and a big truck wont move over.
They have the autobahn which I have already mentioned where, as you know, you can drive as fast as you want to. Well the 4-lane roads aren't the only roads that you can drive without a speed limit. Here they have 2 lane roads through the country (back home those raods would be the ones that are 55 mph). Here these roads have no speed limits. Sure they have deer and animals you have be careful of but not to the extent like we do in WI.
Another thing - Here in Giessen the stop lights seem to have no ryhme or rythm to when the switch. Sometimes it doesnt even make sense. For example at one of the intersections here- a 3-way stop- you can either make a left turn or go straight. The left turn arrow will be green but you cant go straight, the straight lane has a red light. There are many other intersections where you just wonder what is going on. Also I dont think they have sensors on some of the lights, especially at night. Regardless of when you arrive you have to wait for lights to go through their cycle and get around to your turn. Someone here told us that in a survey that Giessen was found 499 out of 500 for efficiency of traffic signals in European cities.
Another thing - when you are driving here and you go on an on-ramp to get onto the Autobahn, if there is a truck coming in the lane you are pulling into, it will not get over no matter how close you get to it, even if there isnt a car in the other lane. I dont know if it is a law, or maybe just because it is the autobahn and cars can come real fast out of nowhere, but its hard maybe even a little worry-some when you try to go from an on-ramp to the Autobahn and a big truck wont move over.
Oldenburg
Yesterday we played the team who won the league last year at their place. 
We played tough the whole game and it was close. It wasnt a very high scoring game (58-48), and it seemed closer as they made some free throws in the final minute of the game to give them the final score of beating us by 10. In the forth quarter the score was stuck at 44-48 for the longest time. Neither team could seem to score. We had 3 3-pointers that rattled in and out. I think if we could have been the first team to score at that time we might have been able to pull it off. We had some chances and it looked at time like we could get it, but in the end they just outscored us. Last week we didnt play very well and this week, even though we lost, used some of the things we learned from last week to help us. Hopefully we will be able to really take it to Tubingen who we play next week.
We played tough the whole game and it was close. It wasnt a very high scoring game (58-48), and it seemed closer as they made some free throws in the final minute of the game to give them the final score of beating us by 10. In the forth quarter the score was stuck at 44-48 for the longest time. Neither team could seem to score. We had 3 3-pointers that rattled in and out. I think if we could have been the first team to score at that time we might have been able to pull it off. We had some chances and it looked at time like we could get it, but in the end they just outscored us. Last week we didnt play very well and this week, even though we lost, used some of the things we learned from last week to help us. Hopefully we will be able to really take it to Tubingen who we play next week.Oldenburg is a long ways away. Yesterday we left here at 12:00. We stopped and got a pre-game meal on the way and took a little break, but after getting home last night at 5:00am (4:00am but with daylights savings it was 5:00) it made for a long day.
Luckily the bus had a dvd player and we got to watch the end of the movie Shooter (which we started watching on another trip), Eragon and the Ghost Rider.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Last two weeks of games
Last two weekends of games.
The past two weekends my team went 1-1. We won at home against Trier to give us 2 wins in a row and then lost on the road last weekend when we went to Artland. 
The Trier game was a good game for us and a win we very much needed to help us stay away from the bottom of the rankings. The game started out the wrong way, where they went up in the first quarter. But, we were able to fight back and in the end won by 15 or 20 or something like that.
The Trier game was a good game for us and a win we very much needed to help us stay away from the bottom of the rankings. The game started out the wrong way, where they went up in the first quarter. But, we were able to fight back and in the end won by 15 or 20 or something like that. The game last weekend in Artland was a tough one. 
We didnt do the things we needed to do as well as we would have liked. Hopefully it will be a game where we can learn from our mistakes and do better this coming weekend.
We didnt do the things we needed to do as well as we would have liked. Hopefully it will be a game where we can learn from our mistakes and do better this coming weekend.After a weekend off 2 weekends ago, Katys team was bacck in action for their final game. They already knew that they would be the team from their legaue moving up to the next higher league (the Regionalliga). The game was fun to watch as the girls really played pretty well. They played really tough defence and I think the other team was quite frustrated. You could tell from the beginning that we were going to win. Katy played well. She ended up with 15 points, 8 rebounds, gave out 5 assists, a couple steals and 1 block. All this while not even playing the first quarter. I ahve to say she was really fun to watch this year and I hadd a good time going to the games. After the game was over every girl got a shirt that had a picture of Krofdorf-Gleiberg on the front (her team) and that said "Aufsteiger" on the back (which means moving up).
After the game they the girls stuck around and had a couple drinks and ordered some pizza. I think Katy had a great time and is very happy she got the chance to play with the girls.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Two wins!!
This past weekend was a good weekend for both Katy and I. After two tough weeks in a row for Katy's team they were able to get back on track this weekend with a win. I would give you all of her stats, but they played on Sunday like we did so I was not able to make it to her game. She was happy that they won though, and its pretty set in stone that they will take second place in their league.
For us it was a very needed win, we beat Paderborn 78-63. 
We are close to the bottom of our league and need wins so we dont get relegated (drop down to the league below-I think I explained this in one of my last posts, but if you finish in the bottom 2 of the league you drop down to the next league below you. In our case since we are in the first league we would drop down to the second league. Not good). The win on the weekend really helped our cause and another one this weekend would be great.
We are close to the bottom of our league and need wins so we dont get relegated (drop down to the league below-I think I explained this in one of my last posts, but if you finish in the bottom 2 of the league you drop down to the next league below you. In our case since we are in the first league we would drop down to the second league. Not good). The win on the weekend really helped our cause and another one this weekend would be great. Katy's brother and sister are coming in on Saturday so it would be great to get a win for them as well.
Check back next week to see how we did.
Katy's team is off this weekend and will play their final game in a week and a half on that Sunday.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
2 tough weeks in a row - for both of us
Two tough weeks in a row for both of us. 
My team played on Saturday night and lost. We played a team that we had previously had beaten and knew if we played well we could beat them. At the end of the game with about 1:30 to go it was all tied up. It was a close game. We had a chance at a couple free throws but couldnt connect. Then on the other end of the floor they had a guy that hit an off balance three pointer that really hurt. In the end they ended up winning by 6. It really felt like we were going to get that one, and it was hard to lose it in the end.
My team played on Saturday night and lost. We played a team that we had previously had beaten and knew if we played well we could beat them. At the end of the game with about 1:30 to go it was all tied up. It was a close game. We had a chance at a couple free throws but couldnt connect. Then on the other end of the floor they had a guy that hit an off balance three pointer that really hurt. In the end they ended up winning by 6. It really felt like we were going to get that one, and it was hard to lose it in the end.On Sunday Katy's team played. 
Katy's team is sitting second right now and the team they played was in first. We were hoping that they could win by 11 (as the other team beat them by 10 the first time-and in a tie breaker situation they look at who is better head-to-head). Adn since Katy wasnt there the first time they played we were hoping she would be one of the deciding factors. Well on Sunday it didnt quite go according to plan. The other team just played a little better. Katy's team looked good at times but at other times they had some turnovers and werent able to grab some rebounds. They just had less good stretches than the other team. I think on a different day they definitley could beat them, just on Sunday the other team played a little better.
Katy's team is sitting second right now and the team they played was in first. We were hoping that they could win by 11 (as the other team beat them by 10 the first time-and in a tie breaker situation they look at who is better head-to-head). Adn since Katy wasnt there the first time they played we were hoping she would be one of the deciding factors. Well on Sunday it didnt quite go according to plan. The other team just played a little better. Katy's team looked good at times but at other times they had some turnovers and werent able to grab some rebounds. They just had less good stretches than the other team. I think on a different day they definitley could beat them, just on Sunday the other team played a little better.
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