An American in Wiesbaden: Germany - I'll miss you (these next few weeks)...

Kicking off the Mainzer Bierbörse with a Kölsch

ith all the internal struggling I've been having over our German assimilation - or lack thereof - I have to admit that I'm going to miss home (aka, Germany) while we're visiting California (no longer home) in the next few weeks. There's so much I'm looking forward to that we don't have here - friends and family, wonderful gourmet food, great shopping - but there's plenty I'm not looking forward to as well - the horrible drivers, the endless traffic, being repeatedly 'sized up' by other women, that windy, wet coastal air that makes my hair look as if I've stuck my finger in an electric socket. I'm heading over with almost equal anticipation and apprehension.

All the love-hate feelings I've been struggling with reminds me a little of an experience from my childhood. One year, my parents moved us across town and I landed at a new school. I quickly became close with a girl in my class there, but when she presented me with one half of those ubiquitous 'best friends' necklaces, my naive nine-year-old mind thought: "But I already have a best friend (with whom I shared a similar necklace) from my old school!" Somehow, I thought that accepting another 'official' best friend meant I was somehow being unfair to my other best friend. Similarly ridiculous, I've felt that to be truly settled here, I needed to cut myself off from my American ways. But really, I've got the best of both worlds (or rather, countries) by being able to visit and enjoy the things I love in America but then come back to Germany and enjoy the life here I love so much.

So while I'm stuffing my face with In'N'Out Burger, wine tasting in Napa, and shopping till I drop, I'll still be thinking of you, Germany. Here are just a few things I will miss...